SHOPLIFTING

A Warwick man has been charged with repeatedly stealing bottles of Tasmanian Vodka.

Around 6:25 P.M., Dec. 28, 2023, Warwick Police responded to Airport Liquors at 1800 Airport Road following a reported shoplifting.

Dispatch informed Warwick Police Officer Kyle J. Fitzsimmons that a man fled the store with merchandise. Bystanders told police the man ran toward Burger King. Customers in Burger King told police a man entered and “went straight into the men’s room,” according to the arrest report.

Police approached the locked bathroom door. After a while a man came out and Fitzsimmons noted “a large object that appeared to be concealed under his shirt in the area of his waist.”

The bulge turned out to be a bottle of Tasmanian Vodka, valued by the store at $24.99.

Police identified the man as Logan W. Waterhouse, 40, of 20 Jefferson Boulevard, Apt. 225, Warwick.

A store employee informed police that the same man was a suspect in other recent shopliftings. The store owner provided police with seven prior shoplifting incidents between Nov. 10 and Dec. 22, 2023.

According to police, Waterhouse “provided a written statement admitting to the previous shopliftings.”

He was charged with one count of shoplifting and handed a summons to appear in Third District Court on Jan. 30.

SEXUAL ASSAULT

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Neronha announced charges against a Woonsocket man following a Warwick Police investigation. According to a press release from the AG’s office, a Woonsocket man has been charged in Kent County Superior Court with multiple counts of second-degree sexual assault stemming from his arrest on June 15, 2023.

On Jan. 10, the Office of the Attorney General charged Everett Mello Jr., 52, by way of criminal information with two counts of second-degree sexual assault and one count of simple assault.

“As alleged in the criminal information, the defendant sexually assaulted a 16-year-old victim multiple times on or about May 9, 2023,” according to prosecutors.

The Warwick Police Department conducted the investigation. Mello is scheduled for arraignment on Jan. 26 in Kent County Superior Court.

MALICIOUS INJURY TO PROPERTY

Around 8:15 p.m., April 16, 2023, Johnston Police responded to an address in town (redacted from the publicly available incident report) for the report of vandalism to a vehicle.

Police spoke to the victim, who drove their vehicle and the tire pressure light turned on. They stopped, and discovered two “aluminum spikes” in both of the passenger side tires, which were completely flat.

One of the vehicle’s owners returned home to search the area for more spikes. According to the police incident report, while looking for additional spikes, the victim stepped on one, and it “went through the bottom of his shoe and into his foot.” Similar spikes had been found at another location (redacted from the report) on two separate occasions. Police reviewed records from the other reported incidents.

The victim told police that “he estimated that he has had to replace over 40 tires since November due to these incidents.” They also provided a name of the individual they believed was responsible, and provided a voicemail message left by the suspect on Nov. 10, 2022, “three days before the first reported vandalism.”

The evidence was forwarded on to the Johnston Police Detectives Division for further investigation. On Jan. 4, around 2 p.m., Johnston Police Patrolman Thomas Santurri responded to the Warwick Police Department to take custody of the suspect, for whom Johnston Police had issued an arrest warrant.

Police identified the suspect as Kevin Turgeon, 58, of 23 Ledgemont Court, West Warwick. He was transported back to Johnston Police Department and charged with two misdemeanor counts of Vandalism/Malicious Injury to Property. Turgeon was processed and held pending arraignment

SHOPLIFTING & CONSPIRACY

Around 3:15 p.m., Dec. 31, 2023, Warwick Police responded to Target at 400 Bald Hill Road for the report of a shoplifting incident. Loss prevention employees told police that they had a man and a woman in custody for shoplifting.

Police identified the pair as a Cranston couple — Katherine J. Flores Lopez, 23, and Jarnny Oliva Ortiz, 25, both of 25 Maplewood Ave., Cranston.

A loss prevention associate told poice that the couple intentionally failed to “scan every item in their cart at self checkout.” Lopez allegedly “conducted a false scan by using a cut out bar code that scanned for a tech deck valued at $14.99, instead of a hover board which was valued at $199.99,” according to the arrest report.

Lopez also allegedly “skipped multiple food items in her cart before only paying for some items.”

The store provided surveillance footage from the incident and valued the unpaid items at $224.34 (cheese, $3.99; deli meat, $12.98; Applegate meat, $5.39; Parmesan cheese, $1.99; and the hoverboard, $199.99).

Both Lopez and Ortiz were charged with one count each of Conspiracy and Shoplifting.