Crime & Safety

Cops: City Man Charged: Counterfeit $20s, Crack Possession

The 25-year-old resident told Middletown Police he must have gotten the fake money as change when he purchased boots for his girlfriend.

Middletown Police report the following arrests:

NON-STUDENT POSSESSING DRUGS AND DRUG PARAPHERNALIA NEAR SCHOOL, SIXTH-DEGREE LARCENY — On Dec. 13 at 11 p.m., Marcus Blue, 30, of Pearl Street was seen by police walking on Ferry and Main streets with an outstanding warrant. A search revealed 1.8 grams of marijuana in a baggie in his pocket and several empty plastic bags. Blue said they were for marijuana but the officer said it resembled the bag found on Blue on Nov. 21 with 6.3 grams of crack cocaine inside. Police found two cell phones on him; one of which had text messages about drug dealing and the price of drugs. Blue said the phone was shut off and he only used it to watch porn he had saved on it. At headquarters, a canine search revealed no additional drugs. He is a convicted felon for the possession of and sale of narcotics, a pending case from March 8. He has no permanent address.

FIRST-DEGREE FORGERY, POSSESSION NARCOTICS, NON-STUDENT POSSESSING DRUGS NEAR SCHOOL — On Dec. 13, Dean D.S. Tenn, 25, of East Street drove past an officer sitting at Social Services on Main Street Extension with very dark tinted windows. When stopped, officers searched his car and found folded $20 bills totaling $208 and a baggie with crack cocaine (.4 grams) inside. He also had fake $20 bills, all with the same serial number. Tenn said he went shopping at Nordstroms at Westfarms Mall in Farmington to buy his girlfriend boots with cash and he may have been given counterfeit $20 as change. He said he worked for Bobs and a record showed he was arrested in 2010 for possession of marijuana.

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VIOLATION OF PROTECTIVE ORDER, DISORDERLY CONDUCT — On Dec. 13 at 9:26 a.m., police were called to a home on Woodbury Circle in which a woman said her boyfriend, David M. Gonzalez, 25, of Woodbury Circle, had gotten physical with her then left on foot. The victim said she arrived home that morning to find the apartment in disarray and Gonzalez asleep on the couch. When he gets drunk, she told officers, he made a mess of the place; he allegedly woke up and became violent. She began cleaning up with a broom; Gonzalez kicked it and it hit her knee. She told police she tried to call 911, he wouldn’t let her; when she tried to go into the refrigerator, he kicked it closed. She finally called police and said he was on his way to work in Portland. Police found him walking across the bridge.  

RECKLESS DRIVING, EVADING RESPONSIBILITY, OPERATION MOTOR VEHICLE WITH SUSPENDED LICENSE — On Dec. 12 at 12:30 p.m., Joseph Turnage, 26, of Winthrop Boulevard, Cromwell, was at Cromwell Police with an outstanding warrant.

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NON-STUDENT POSSESSING DRUG PARAPHERNALIA NEAR SCHOOL — On Dec. 10, Anita M. Ackerman, 22, of Daniels Street, East Hampton, was driving on Main Street without a seatbelt. When asked for her license and registration, the officer saw a small piece of purple plastic in the driver’s door handle that resembled the top of a bundle of heroin and several more on the car floor. The passenger was arrested on an outstanding State Police warrant from Troop K Colchester. She allegedly told police her boyfriend, who has an “illegal” heroin addiction, had used the car. The boyfriend allegedly told police Ackerman uses heroin and put a needle in the center console. Officers found it there with a crack pipe and needles and empty heroin bags in her purse.

OPERATE VEHICLE UNDER SUSPENSION, ILLEGAL OPERATION MOTOR VEHICLE UNDER SUSPENSION — On Dec. 10 at 2:09 a.m., Sandra L. Mascolo, 41, of Newfield Street was driving a Honda Civic on Main Street and Rapallo Ave. The passenger said he was the registered owner but couldn’t find the registration information.

FAILURE TO RESPOND TO INFRACTION — On Dec. 11 at 4:38 p.m., Douglas E. Wagner, 45, of no certain address was found at Main and Liberty streets with an outstanding warrant. He is a convicted felon with 25 arrests for criminal trespass, burglaries, probation violations, narcotics charges, larceny, failure to appear, operating under suspension and custody interference.

THREATENING, BREACH OF PEACE, INTERFERING WITH OFFICER — On Dec. 11 at 9 a.m., Brian K. Milliot, 34, of Country Squire Drive, Cromwell, was picked up in Hartford by Middletown Police from Connecticut State Police.

FAILURE TO DISPLAY PLATES, INSURANCE FAILS MINIMUM — On Dec. 10, Sean R. Jeffers, 25, of High Street, East Hampton, was driving on Spring Street with no front plate and the right front signal light missing. A few days earlier, police said, he was stopped as a passenger in his car and an officer told him to put a plate on it. He said, “I am going to put the front plate on and make a complaint about this,” but couldn’t then because he had no screws. He accused the officer of harassing him for the owner of Untouchable Towing, because he has a shop next door. The officer said he was unaware of this.

BREACH OF PEACE, THIRD-DEGREE ASSAULT — On Dec. 10, Christopher M. Lorenti, 25, of Easton Street, Hamden, admitted to punching a security guard at Mezzo’s Bar and Grill on Court Street, causing him a broken nose. Christopher F. Gertz, 26, of Quinnipiac Avenue, North Haven, was involved in a fight that caused a male victim a sore neck. Witnesses saw him lunge at the victim and choke him.

TRAVELING UNREASONABLY FAST, INSURANCE FAILS MINIMUM, OPERATION MOTOR VEHICLE WITH SUSPENDED REGISTRATION — On Dec. 10 at 9:13 p.m., Ophus Turner, 60, of Hillside Avenue was driving a Jeep Cherokee at a high rate of speed on Newfield Street in a 40 mph area.

SIXTH-DEGREE LARCENY, INTERFERING WITH OFFICER — On Dec. 9, Douglas Rhynhart, 27, of Union Street was seen on Price Chopper surveillance cameras shoplifting an 18-pack of Bud Light beer on Washington Street. Police say he took off on foot in the woods near Butternut Street, where he hid from police. He later admitted to the theft, the report says.

SECOND-DEGREE FAILURE TO APPEAR — On Dec. 9 at 8 p.m., Thomas Bezilla, 40, of Seminole Trail, East Hampton, turned himself in on an outstanding warrant from East Hampton.

SECOND-DEGREE BREACH OF PEACE — On Dec. 8 at 12:57 p.m., Angel M. Martinez, 20, of Villa Street was at the Gulf gas station on Washington Street. Several months before, the clerk told police, Martinez had caused a disturbance in the store. On this day, he started swearing at the clerk over some cigarettes. Martinez asked the clerk when he was getting off and when told 3 p.m., said he would be back then and spit on the clerk and registers. He left in a Saturn. A cigarette vendor confirmed the story. At 3:15 p.m., police say, he returned in the same car and gave the clerk the finger then left. Police found him at his home; he said the clerk started it by insulting Martinez's mother. He was arrested and told not to return to the Gulf store.

INSURANCE FAILS MINIMUM, OPERATING UNREGISTERED VEHICLE — On Dec. 8, police were driving behind an Acura RL with an Illinois license plate on East Main Street that was registered to a Chevrolet. Sandisile P. Gumede, 22, of Wacona Avenue, Waterbury, said she had bought the car from a “guy in New York” and would register and insure it when she saved up enough money.

OPERATION MOTOR VEHICLE WITH REGISTRATION SUSPENDED — On Dec. 7, police were behind a car driven by Phillis J. Wright, 60, of Beverly Heights. She was stopped at Boston Road.

DUI, IMPROPER TURN — On Dec. 6, police were called to a two-car accident at High Street and Pameacha Avenue. James Madura, 50, of Garden Street was sitting in his car with the engine on. He told officers he made a right-hand turn from High onto Pameacha and hit a car stopped at the stop sign. The officer said he had bloodshot, watery eyes and smelled of alcohol. He failed three sobriety tests. At 6:15 p.m., both intox machines at headquarters were discovered broken so he was taken to Portland Police, where he registered a .265 blood alcohol level at 6:51 p.m. and .255 at 7:05 p.m.

SIXTH-DEGREE SHOPLIFTING — On Dec. 5, Bob’s Stores alerted police two females had been caught shoplifting, Monique N. LaPointe, 20, of Eastern Drive, and Kimberly Kaminski, 28, of Stub Hollow Road, New Hartford, $223.29 worth of merchandise. The videotape showed the women walk to the shoe department and Kaminski conceal items in the baby carriage then purchase a $4 knicknack. Outside, the report says, the women admitted they had done so to the loss prevention officer. LaPointe, who said she lived in a safe haven home, was additionally charged with conspiracy.


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