Salem Observer : Salem, arrest

SNHU locked down, Derry man arrested

Salem Editor — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:20:00 GMT

BY DERRICK PERKINS

A self-described “amateur comedian” charged with a threat that locked down Southern New Hampshire University for about an hour on Wednesday, Oct. 28, is headed back to New Hampshire Hospital to await trial, say prosecutors.

Shawn DeCoste, 31, of Derry was arraigned on criminal threatening and disorderly conduct charges Oct. 29 in Salem District Court via a televised feed from Rockingham County jail.

DeCoste’s Oct. 28 arrest was prompted by a telephone call between the accused and Linda Richelson, director of SNHU’s Salem center, about 4 p.m.

Informed he was being expelled, DeCoste, a graduate student, allegedly said, “I am going to make you regret your decision for the rest of your life,” according to the arrest affidavit and criminal complaint.

The conversation prompted university officials to close the 19 Keewaydin Drive campus for about an hour as police cleared and secured the building. Police arrested DeCoste at his 109 Franklin St. home about 7:45 p.m.

In court yesterday, prosecutor Robert Prince said DeCoste was on conditional release from the state hospital and officials there want him returned.

Opened in 1842, the Concord- based state hospital is publicly funded and provides psychiatric and neurological care. Police didn’t know why DeCoste is a patient of the state hospital, and officials there did not respond to requests for information.

Capt. Shawn Patten of the Salem Police Department would not elaborate on what DeCoste allegedly told Richelson, but said the nature of the threat was “against her health and well-being.”

In his arrest warrant affidavit, Officer Daniel J. Nelson wrote, “I concluded that Richelson was in fact fearful of harm from DeCoste. The threats made by DeCoste had in fact caused great alarm and concern for the safety of both the school and the persons within.”

DeCoste was charged with resisting arrest after a struggle with Derry and Salem police during which he claimed “diplomatic immunity,” police said.

DeCoste was held overnight at a county jail on a $25,000 cash bail, police said. During his arraignment, DeCoste told the court he has lived alone for the past four years and was an amateur comedian.

“I don’t get paid, but I keep a busy schedule,” he said.

On his MySpace profile, DeCoste has posted several videos of his stand-up routine and says he is a 2009 graduate of Hesser College.

He describes himself as “nice and serious” and a “certified genius like Einstein.”

The court decided DeCoste should continue to be held on $25,000 cash bail, but will be returned to the state hospital, Patten said. The court set his trial date for Nov. 23.

Booze on Salem High School grounds; Nine arrested

Salem Editor — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:39:00 GMT

BY DERRICK PERKINS

Nine high school students from two communities were taken into police custody on alcohol-related charges for allegedly drinking before a school dance on Sept. 26.

Police said school administrators contacted the authorities after questioning the students who displayed “obvious signs of impairment” as they made their way into the Salem High School Freshmen Reception between 7 and 9 p.m.

Authorities believe the students had been drinking in the school parking lot and tried to sneak some of the liquor into the event using water bottles. Several bottles of alcohol, including rum, were recovered in three of the students’ vehicles, prompting authorities to tow the vehicles, according to Capt. Shawn Patten.

Three other students were taken into custody, but did not face charges after officers administered blood alcohol tests.

Patten said the police department has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to underage drinking, to which he attributed the low number of similar incidents in the past.

“Salem High School administrators and the (school resource) officers ... work together to try and prevent these things from happening,” he said. “We do a good job, and we don’t see a lot of those problems. Like any other community, it happens, but we’re not overridden with it.”

Superintendent Michael Delahanty said that while the alleged behavior on the part of the students taken into custody was unfortunate, it was not uncommon when several hundred adolescents come together under one roof.

“There were about 800 or 900 students in attendance and one of the things that I’ve said regularly and repeatedly, you can’t go to too many places and have that number of adolescents in one big room and not have problems unless there is a tremendous amount of respect for the school and the culture of the school,” he said.

“There was no improper behavior during the dance, it was just the misfortune of several students ... who had been drinking some type of alcohol before getting to the dance.”

Delahanty praised the actions of school administrators on the scene who promptly brought in the authorities after suspecting alcohol-use among some of the students. He said they acted without hesitation even as they knew the incident would bring bad publicity upon the school.

According to Delahanty, the freshmen reception has been an annual fundraising event for the senior class over the last 15 or so years and generally includes a series of short skits or performances before becoming a dance. Students caught consuming alcohol or any other illegal substance before or during a school event face automatic consequences.

Each of the students will serve school suspensions of varying lengths, he said. Emily Anyon, 17, Elanor Bouraphael, 17, Samir Ramey, 17 and David Welch, 17, all of Salem, are facing unlawful possession of alcohol charges, along with Kimberly Foote, 17, Kina Wilbur Kamien, 18, and Justin Shepley, 18, all of Windham. Kamien was also charged with transportation of alcoholic beverages along with Christine Hill, 17, and Brad Morisseau, both of Salem.

All of the students were released into the custody of their parents either at the school or at the police station, authorities said.

Man arrested after trying to cash in stolen lottery tickets

Salem Editor — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:16:00 GMT

Luck ran out for a Derry man who now may face charges in two communities after allegedly stealing 500 lottery scratch tickets and attempting to cash the winning tickets at area convenience stores.

Authorities charged 20- year-old Ryan Ambrose with receiving stolen property after undercover detectives arrested him based in part on surveillance tapes and witness descriptions on Sept. 15.

According to police, the New Hampshire Lottery Commission alerted authorities that some of the scratch tickets were cashed a Tedeschi’s store and others attempted at Dusty’s Citgo, both located in Salem, after flagging tickets following an overnight burglary at the Bagel Shop in Derry.

After reviewing tapes and interviewing employees at both stores, detectives located the suspect’s vehicle in a nearby parking lot at 33 Northwestern Drive. Ambrose was taken into custody without incident on his way out of work and his vehicle was seized, according to authorities. Officers reported that the side door of the vehicle was visibly stuffed with scratch tickets.

Ambrose was released on a $1,000 personal recognizance bail pending his arraignment at Salem District Court. More charges are pending against Ambrose in Derry, according to authorities.

– Derrick Perkins

Three arrested in street sign spree

Salem Editor — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 18:43:00 GMT

BY DERRICK PERKINS

Three local teenagers are facing multiple charges stemming from what authorities are describing as a month-and-a-half-long crime spree that caused roughly $5,000 in damages.

According to police, the trio – a 16-year-old from Windham and two 15-year-olds from Salem – was responsible for damaging several lawns as well as the thefts of about 30 street signs and the destruction of more than 30 mailboxes in town between May and June. Officers took the three youths into custody on June 27 after a resident on Flintlock Road reported a group of “kids” acting suspiciously and going from home to home ringing doorbells at about 2 a.m., police said.

Capt. Shawn Patten said officers arriving on the scene investigated and were able to determine that the group of teenagers was behind the string of crimes. He described it as a great piece of police work on the part of the officers.

“(The teenagers) were just out at 1 or 2 a.m. and they were doing things they shouldn’t be doing. We found them and located their vehicle and the officers did a phenomenal job with nothing. Just knowing we had a crime wave going on the officers pushed them to uncover the fact that they were responsible,” he said. “Through the investigation and those guys being out and the other information that we’d received, we were able to piece it together and determine that they were behind it all.”

According to Patten, the department was able to recover four of the stolen street signs from one of the teens, but have been unable to locate the rest. He said the teenagers had allegedly ditched the bulk of the signs in a location only they knew about, but authorities were working with them to recover the remaining street markers.

Department of Public Works Director Rick Russell said he was ecstatic upon learning the three alleged thieves had been caught. Manufacturing almost 30 replacement street signs had cost his department more than $4,000 in the cost of materials and labor.

“I don’t have the people to make signs all day and that’s what it took,” Russell said. “It takes time to make the signs up. We’re down three positions and I literally don’t have the people to devote just making signs for a two-week period.”

Though a few signs go missing from year to year – some, like Easy Street, are more popular than others – Russell said he knew something was different was going on when five street signs disappeared in a single night in mid-June.

More than anything else, Russell said he was concerned that public safety could have been affected by the missing signs.

“I’ve been in town for 30- plus years, and I can’t remember all the streets off the top of my head. When seconds count it’s a big thing. I hate to see it happen to the kids, but hopefully they learn the lesson and other people learn the lesson. It’s expensive and dangerous to steal street signs,” Russell said. “The kids think it’s a prank and I feel bad for the kids if they’ve ended up with a criminal record for something as stupid as that. If they ever really stopped to think about it, ‘What if it was a friend or a relative with a heart attack and the fire department couldn’t get there,’ they wouldn’t do it.”

Police have charged the 16- year-old with being an accomplice to theft, an accomplice to criminal mischief and criminal mischief. The two 15-yearolds have been charged with theft and criminal mischief.

All three will be appearing in juvenile court within the next several weeks, according to officials.

$10 tab leads to violence in Salem

Salem Editor — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:12:00 GMT

BY DERRICK PERKINS

An early morning argument over a $10 bar tab allegedly sparked a fight that left one man hospitalized and three lawn statues uprooted on June 6.

Andrew Monzon, 23, of Andover, Mass., has been charged with reckless conduct, criminal mischief, driving while intoxicated and two counts of first-degree assault after allegedly using his vehicle to intentionally strike a co-worker and the co-worker’s father at their 64 Kelly Road residence at about 2:15 a.m.

According to police, Monzon and a co-worker got into an argument over a bar tab on the way to the residence after drinking together earlier in the evening. Police said Monzon drove forward and struck his 35-year-old co-worker in the driveway of the residence, flipping him over the hood of the vehicle before driving off.

Monzon allegedly returned a few minutes later and intentionally crashed into the garage door, a light post and drove over three lawn statues. When his coworker’s father came out of the Kelly Road residence, Monzon also intentionally struck him before leaving the scene, police said.

The second victim was treated at Caritas Holy Family Hospital in Methuen, Mass., for non-life threatening injuries, police said. Monzon was taken into custody near Route 28 and was held on a $5,000 cash bail pending his arraignment at Salem District Court.

‘Aggressive’ magazine peddlers had no license, didn’t register with police

Salem Editor — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:14:00 GMT

BY DERRICK PERKINS

Police believe the nine door-to-door magazine subscription peddlers taken into custody on May 27 for “extremely aggressive and rude” behavior may be connected with four salesmen arrested last year after an alleged late night assault.

Spurred on by complaints from residents, authorities made the arrests after learning that none of the nine solicitors had a required state hawkers and peddlers license, nor had they registered with the town or the Police Department.

Police said none of the nine individuals had positive identification, complicating the arrests.

One of the men, William Freeman, 29, of Detroit, Mich., already had an outstanding warrant for his arrest in Portsmouth for allegedly giving officers in that community false information and was held on a $250 cash bail, according to authorities.

Another, Keyinna Jones, 20, of Baltimore, Md., has also been charged with false reports to law enforcement officials and is being held pending a positive identification. Police also charged Lydia Thomas, 26, of Norristown, Pa., with operating a motor vehicle without a license. Thomas was released with a court summons.

According to Capt. Shawn Patten, residents complained that the magazine salesmen would not take “no” for an answer. In one incident, Patten said a salesman had attempted to follow a resident into her home during the sales pitch.

While authorities have not yet learned who the nine salesmen arrested on Wednesday were working for, Patten said the individuals may have been part of the same group or company as the four men arrested last summer.

On June 26 of last year, officers took the four door-to-door magazine salesmen into custody after a passerby saw two of the men assaulting a third in the parking lot of a Wendy’s restaurant on North Broadway at 9:52 p.m. According to police, the man was refused dinner and then beaten by his supervisor and a coworker for failing to meet his sales quota.

Though police believed the men were originally from Chicago and worked for Pargon Sales Midwest Clearing going door-to-door selling magazine subscriptions, none of them could produce positive identification and listed a Lowell, Mass., hotel as their residence.

The four had registered with the Salem Police Department per state law before their arrests, though authorities took steps to remove the group from the community and, at the time, urged residents and businesses to report any further contact with the salesmen.

Now police are taking similar measures, urging residents to contact department at 893-1911 if they are approached by a magazine salesman. At the moment, police are trying to verify the identification of each of the nine arrested, Patten said.

Two arrested for drugs by detective watching gym parking lot in Salem

Salem Editor — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:20:00 GMT

An investigation into a series of “smash and grab” thefts led to the arrest of two people for possession of marijuana on March 31.

Police charged Laurie Murphy, 35, of Methuen, Mass., and her stepfather Arthur Croteau, 55, of Pelham with possession of a controlled drug after officers spotted Murphy allegedly searching through Croteau’s parked vehicle for drugs at The Workout Club in Salem at about 9:30 p.m.

According to police, Murphy began acting nervously when Detective Mike Rogers approached her. Upon further investigation, police said a small amount of marijuana was found in Murphy’s vehicle. Rogers also discovered about an ounce of marijuana in Croteau’s vehicle after locating him inside the gym.

Police believe Murphy was searching for drugs inside Croteau’s car when she was spotted by the plainclothes detective. Both were released on summons pending their arraignment at Salem District Court.

Authorities began the parking lot surveillance after responding to reports of thefts at Planet Fitness and the Salem Athletic Club. Police said several vehicles were broken into and items, including a purse, GPS unit and cell phone were stolen.

Authorities do not have any leads or suspects at this time and the incidents remain under investigation.

– Derrick Perkins

Two busts in same Salem lot

Salem Editor — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:59:00 GMT

BY DERRICK PERKINS

Police said an alleged drug deal has been broken up by police in the parking lot of a local Red Roof Inn, the second in that location in a single week.

Luis Rodriguez, 34, of Derry has been charged with three counts of possession of a controlled drug as well as three counts of transporting a controlled drug after members of the Salem Police Investigation Unit and uniformed officers took him into custody without incident at about 9:20 p.m. on Tuesday, March 31.

According to authorities, Rodriguez had a significant quantity of crack cocaine, powder cocaine and heroin on his person.

Police also seized $1,000 in cash from his vehicle.

Rodriguez is being held on a $50,000 cash bail pending his arraignment at Salem District Court and the confirmation of the personal information he gave police upon his arrest.

On Thursday, March 26, officers busted up another alleged drug deal in the same parking lot, arresting two Salem men after finding four large bags of marijuana valued at between $1,000 and $2,000.

Authorities have charged Jonathan Bergeron, 21, with possession of marijuana with an intent to distribute and Christopher Meucci, 20, with possession of marijuana after officer Michael Bernard spotted them hunched over in a vehicle attempting to hide as he pulled into the parking lot at about 8 p.m.

Accord - ing to authorities, in the parking lot, Officer Bernard stopped one of the suspects, who allegedly had a bag of marijuana in his sweatshirt, while the other was later located on the balcony floor of the hotel.

Officers also allegedly discovered a pot pipe and several more bags of marijuana inside the vehicle.

Both men were released on a $5,000 cash bail and are due before the Salem District Court for arraignments on April 27.

Salem Police have busy St. Pat’s Day

Salem Editor — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 21:19:00 GMT

BY DERRICK PERKINS

St. Patrick’s Day left some holiday revelers with more than just a hangover earlier this month.

Police arrested and charged five individuals with DWIs throughout the daylong celebration in honor of Ireland’s patron saint earlier this week and handled three separate automobile accidents, all involving alcohol.

While law enforcement officials said it was impossible to say whether there were more people were out and drinking than in past years, the number of arrests and accidents was unusual. Capt. Shawn Patten said the department had a full staff going into the holiday and had prepared for the day in the same way they prepared for the festivities following Super Bowl Sunday, the Fourth of July and Memorial Day Weekend.

“I think it’s another one of those holidays where people go out and celebrate,” said Salem police Capt. Shawn Patten.

According to authorities, Kevin Waterworth, 39, of Dracut, Mass., was taken into custody on his second offense DWI after his vehicle went of the road near 346 South Broadway Street shortly before midnight on March 17. Waterworth was released on a $200 cash bail, pending his arraignment.

Peter Conti, 46, of Watertown, Mass., was charged with driving while intoxicated after officers stopped his vehicle in the area of Rockingham Park Boulevard and Mall Road at about 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday, March 18. Conti was released on a court summons pending his arraignment at the district courthouse.

A little more than 10 minutes later, officers reported a vehicle had rolled over several times near Cluff Road and severed a utility pole in half, forcing the road closed for several hours as National Grid crews repaired the damage.

The operator, Derek Mc- Crum, 24, of Pelham was transported to the Parkland Medical Center for nonlife-threatening injuries. Authorities charged McCrum with driving while intoxicated and released him on court summons while he was being treated for his injuries.

Roughly an hour later, Officers found about five individuals arguing in the middle of Pelham Road near a vehicle located off of the roadway. Discovering a second vehicle deep in the woods near Abbey Road at about 2:30 a.m., officers charged Brandon Brown, 19, of Salem with driving while intoxicated.

Brown was released on summons and will be arraigned at the district courthouse.

A Windham man was taken into custody after failing a field sobriety test at around 12:30 a.m., but passed a breath test. Though held in protective custody until a sober individual could pick him, police are not pressing any charges against him.

Salem man warns cop

Salem Editor — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 21:10:00 GMT

BY DERRICK PERKINS

An 18-year-old man arrested earlier this month for operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license is facing more legal problems after he allegedly harassed a local police officer set to testify against him in court.

Police have charged Paul Braster of Salem with harassment and witness tampering after he allegedly called Sgt. Mike Wagner 20 to 30 times in reference to his legal troubles. Though police said Braster was repeatedly warned to stop, he allegedly used false pretenses to contact Wagner again and asked that the officer not testify against him.

Braster had been out on bail for his prior arrest which came after officers recognized him operating a vehicle with no license plates along North Main Street on March 19. Police said Braster ignored officers and proceeded to drive home on Pawtucket Lane where he was taken into custody.

While being processed, police said Braster made threats against police officers, including threatening to drive his vehicle through the front of the station after he was released.

Braster faces charges of disobeying a police officer, failure to display plates, operating after a suspension and criminal threatening stemming from that arrest.