This is a picture of a woman who walked into the TD BankNorth in Cupples Square last Thursday, handed a teller a note, and then made off with some cash.
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If anyone knows who she is and calls Crimestoppers with that information, they could get $1,000 if their information leads to an arrest in the case, even if they choose to remain anonymous.
If you think you know who she is just call (978) 459-TIPS (8477).
I just now realized I never mentioned that anyone who is interested can also find me on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/Robert_Mills
I keep information there brief and mostly just provide links to the breaking news stories and blog entries I do.
So why check it out? Well, if you're so interested in crime around Lowell that can't go five minutes without catching updates, you can set Twitter to notify your phone everytime my twitter updates. If you have an internet-capable phone, you can basically stalk me while I work.
Just when those of us in the newsroom thought we had heard the last of former Middlesex Register of Probate John Buonomo, an e-mail from Attorney General Martha Coakley arrives.
Press Conference: 4:15 p.m.
In case you forget who Buonomo is, he's a 57-year-old Newton man who got caught doing THIS back in August, 2008.
That's a cash machine in the basement of the Middlesex Register of Deeds building in Cambridge, and District Attorney Jerry Leone says that's Buonomo opening it up to steal some cash. They caught him on camera over a dozen times.
That case is still pending, but it led Buonomo to resign on Sept. 7.
Well, the news from Coakley is that Buonomo was allegedly up to no good way before that.
Based on an investigation by Coakley's Office and the Office of Campaign and Political Finance, Buonomo has been charged with stealing ever since 2004.
Stealing how much? About $100,000, according to Coakley. (Guess he couldn't find a cash machine that would change a $100,000 bill).
Coakley says Buonomo had two schemes.
In one, he wrote himself checks from his campaign committee, supposedly because he had used his own cash to buy postage for campaign materials. Not true, says Coakley. He was just pocketing the cash, she said.
In the second scheme, Buonomo would write checks to Piro Printing, in Somerville, for printing of campaign materials. Coakley says there weren't real printing jobs, though.
Piro Printing owner, Marc Piro, of Wilmington, would cash Buonomo's checks, keep $500 for himself, and give Buonomo back the rest of the cash, sometimes as much as $15,000. Coakley said this was tantamount to laundering the money.
Piro even provided invoices and paperwork, which Buonomo submitted to OCPF to try and cover his tracks.
Piro and Buonomo were both indicted Tuesday afternoon. Both men are charged with larceny over $250, personal use of campaign funds, and willfully misleading investigators. Buonomo is facing two counts each of those first to charges.
They will both be summonsed to court and arraigned at a date to be announced.
Here in the newsroom, we'd love to know just what Buonomo was spending all this money on, but Coakley wouldn't say. She said all that matters to investigators is that it was used for personal expenses. Even if she knows what it was spent on, she's not saying.
The folks at OCPF couldn't tell me exactly how many fraudulent transactions there were between Piro and Buonomo, but here is a list of all the expenditures Buonomo reported in his campaign finance reports. If you're wondering what the difference is, it's that OCPF wouldn't tell me whether all of these transactions were fraudulent.
Piro Printing Payments in Buonomo's Campaign Finance Reports
And last but not least, if what I wrote in the paper today, plus the information here in the blog, isn't enough to satisfy your curiosity about this case, here is the Audio of Coakley's press conference on Tuesday afternoon.
http://www.lowellsun.com/todaysheadlines/ci_12028405
The link is to my story on 2008's crime statistics, in case you made it here without reading that first. It's plenty to think about, and I'll probably write several follow ups on the information as time passes.
In light of all that bad news, I was reminded of how often Superintendent Lavallee encourages neighborhood groups and residents to help police. I've heard him say it a million times at neighborhood meetings.
No matter how good an officer walking the beat is, chances are he or she doesn't know a neighborhood as well as the folks who have lived there for 30 years. And I'd imagine that most homeowners would rather prevent a break-in on their own, rather than need to call police at some point.
A good example came just last night. At 11:30 p.m., I heard Deputy Superintendent Arthur Ryan talking on police radio about an otherwise run of the mill alarm call that police had responded to.
I drove by to see what might have drawn the deputy out so late at night, when he was off-duty and on his own time.
It turns out it really was just a run of the mill call, but the alarm had gone off in a home owned by a friend of the deputy who is out of town. Since the homeowners are away I won't be sharing the address where this happened.
A window in the house had been opened, but nothing inside was taken. It looked like a residential alarm had scared someone off just as they headed into the window. Ryan said that's pretty normal. In all his years on the force, he has almost never seen a home with an audible alarm get broken into.
Once the alarm goes off, it's just easier for a crook to move on and find a house that's less protected.
The moral of all this is that in light of all this bad news regarding crime statistics in Lowell and the surrounding area last year, I fired off an e-mail to Officer Paul Corcoran at Lowell PD.
Paul has been working on safety issues for years now, and has a pamphlet and tips on every type of safety you can think of. He had several on preventing burglaries and theft.
If you're worried about your home or business being burglarized, or just want to read some interesting stuff about how to do a little better should you ever witness a crime, grab some of the documents below. Paul put together all of them, and he's been on the force since 1983, so I think it's safe to say he knows what he's talking about.
A lot of it is a whole lot easier and cheaper than having an alarm system installed. There's some very interesting and easy stuff we could all do too.
For instance, Paul recommends that if you see a crime occurring you should take note of the suspect's shoes.
"Sometimes a criminal will change their clothes but they will not change their shoes," Paul notes.
Got a GPS in your car? Want to keep it? Read this one.
Robbery Kit for Business Owners
Good luck.
I always get a little antsy during the first few weekends when the weather gets warmer in the Spring.
People tend to get out of their houses more and bump into each other on the street. It can lead to violence when people have had issues all winter and finally bump into each other, or when gangs start hanging out on porches, or in visible places where they see guys from other gangs.
City police are out on motorcycles today, and they're usually watching for trouble this time of year.
It's been quiet so far though. (knock on wood). Superintendent Lavallee says all is quiet on the western front.
So far today, a two-car accident just took out a small red light at Rock and Fletcher streets, but no one got hurt, and there are plenty of other red lights there.
Police are on East Merrimack Street now checking into a report of a guy with a gun, but it sounds like they're not finding much. No gunshots or anything. If you see all the commotion though, that's what it's all about.
The report was a man threatening his neighbor with a gun, but the woman who was supposedly threatened just told police the guy didn't have a gun. (a third-party had called 911).
Cops have good memories. Seconds after a bolo was issued at 10:02 p.m.to look for a gray or silver Dodge Charger with Pennsylvania tags believed headed down Route 110 that is wanted for trying to run down a Lawrence police officer, a Lowell cop said he remembered the car. He stopped it a couple of months ago and remembered it was a rental car and that the driver lived on Stackpole Street. Just as interesting was that the driver had a large amount of cash on him.
Salem, N.H., is a great haven for shoplifters, with plenty of stores and easy highway access.
But, a place to steal shrimp?
Four times this month, someone stole frozen shrimp from the Market Basket, more than $500 total. Police say the store finally got their man, when they confronted 46-year-old John Silvera of Methuen. Employees apparently tried to stop Silvera, who accosted a store manager in an escape attempt. He was arrested on charges of shoplifting, simple assault and being a fugitive from justice. Silvera was arraigned and held on $100,000 bail.
Police say Silvera was wanted in Oklahoma on a charge of drug trafficking and in Massachusetts on a larceny charge.
In other five-finger-discount news, police arrested a Dracut woman at Macy's. Workers said the woman’s 3-year-old daughter was seen pushing a stroller with $765 in stolen merchandise hidden in it. Yashoda Sukhavasi, 30, was released on $1,000 bail. The girl was released to her father’s custody.
Well, I was going to put up some safety tips tonight, but my plans got changed.
As I was standing at the main desk of the police station about 6:30 trying to find an accident report on a bus crash, police got a 911 call that a guy in a red shirt had just aimed a rifle at a car on 18th Street in Centralville.
I got interested, left the station, and started making my way toward Centralville as I listened to the radio broadcasts.
The local route officers got to the scene but the guy in the red shirt ran into his house just as the cruiser pulled up with its blue lights on.
Within a minute or two, probably less, other cruisers were there, and about the time I was getting close to the scene Sgt. Don Crawford could be heard on my portable scanner saying police had "a barricaded person."
I got to the scene, got as close as I would ever want to get to such a situation and found a nice spot to stay the heck out of the officers' way while I could still snap some photos and shoot video. (on the sidewalk of a home down the street and behind shoulder-high fence, next to one of those new maroon trash bins).
Photos came out alright, although they're a bit grainy since it was getting dark and they were zoomed.
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I was struck by how calm and actually friendly Officer Finn sounded speaking through a bullhorn to the guy in the house. I always figured officers in this situation would be a lot less reassuring, and more like the "come out with your hands up. Don't make us come in there," stuff you hear in cheesy movies from some guy with a robotic voice.
While Finn was using the bullhorn, the guy's wife kept trying to call him. He wouldn't even answer calls from her cel phone or return the messages she was leaving him. She told police she thought he only had a pellet gun, but that's just not the kind of thing officers can take a chance on once it's been pointed at a passing car.
This went on for a good 30 to 40 minutes.
Eventually, I lucked out in that I had my flip camera filming just as the guy, who I later learned was George Gibb, 48, of 62 18th St., walked out of the house and gave up.
When Gibb first walked out, you couldn't see one of his hands, which is why you hear some shouting at first. I couldn't tell if his hand was actually in his pocket, or just hidden at his side, but no one was getting closer to him until they could see it.
Then at at the end he moved toward an officer a bit just as they approached him.
We can't report much on medical conditions and police can't comment, but it really made me wonder if he was a bit out of it. The cops at the scene didn't seem to know him, which is usually a sign they don't have history with a guy.
Gibb seemed fairly calm at the scene, and I overheard him say "I'm sorry" at one point, although I'm not sure what police were saying to him. Police said that since he had pointed a gun at a passing car he was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon.
That it wasn't a real gun doesn't matter. Just like using a fake gun in an armed robbery doesn't matter. Plus, I forgot to ask police, but I think a pellet gun is considered a dangerous weapon anyway.
It shows how tough a situation like that can be, though. I saw the pellet gun as it came out of the house. I grew up a hunter in Pennsylvania with a 30.06, a .243 and a .22, and I can tell you that when an officer walked out of the house with that gun at sunset I couldn't tell if it was real or not. It had one heck of a big scope for a pellet gun too.
Is there a reason for a scope on a pellet gun?
And that was Wednesday night. After writing two other stories, I'm out of here for my two days off.
There have been quite a few robberies the last two weeks, two in Dracut, one in Chelmsford, one in Tewksbury, one in Groton, and one in Lowell in which a woman was robbed when two guys pressed something against her stomach.
She was 4-months pregnant, so that was enough to make her give up her purse.
I'm not sure anyone has been caught so clearly by surveillance cameras as the guy who robbed Enterprise Bank on Gorham Street Tuesday afternoon.
I've learned from previous robberies that most Enterprise branches have darn good cameras inside, and here is even more proof.
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If you know who this is, call (978) 937-3200, or Crimestoppers. If you call Crimestoppers, not only can you stay anonymous, but a number you are assigned when you give your tip can help you get up to $1,000 if your information leads detectives to an arrest.
So, as of last Sunday, all of us who drive could be looking at a $100 fine if we don't change lanes to create some space for police cruisers, fire trucks, ambulances, tow trucks or MassHighway maintenance crews that park along state highways to do their jobs.
An editor here made an observation the other night about the potential for
accidents when people see an emergency vehicle on the shoulder and then change
lanes without looking, so it's definitely worth noting that the new law requires
ONLY that you change lanes "if it is safe to do so."
In other words, if you have to cut someone off in order to change lanes, it
is also legal to just slow down and stay in the lane you are in.
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Having been on a ride-along with the State Police and having parked on the shoulder or in the median of plenty of interstates while covering accidents, I can tell you that these emergency responders aren't kidding when they say it can be nerve-wracking to be standing there when a big SUV or a tractor-trailer rips past you at 70 miles an hour just a few feet away in the closest travel lane.
If you've ever changed a tire on your car while people flew past you on the interstate, you've probably felt that burst of wind that feels like a shock wave when a tractor-trailer passes. It's nerve wracking, at least to me.
So, it's pretty simple really. Change lanes if you can, and slow down if you can't change lanes.
If the courtesy of it doesn't motive you, maybe this will.
It's a picture I took in May of 2006 after this car struck a cruiser that was
parked in the median of I-495 in Tewksbury with its lights on.
I'm glad I wasn't in that car. And I'd like to make sure my car never looks
quite like this.
There were only minor injuries in that accident too, so be aware that it's on the light side of what can happen when you hit a parked police cruiser while going full-speed on the highway.
My video from the fire on Broadway Street, across from the Stoklosa School Tuesday night.
Detective Mike Bergeron and Officer Stephen Gendreau were on motorcycle patrol, working an extra shift since it was St. Patrick's Day, when they drove by the house on Broadway Street. Bergeron heard alarms going off, and looked just in time to see smoke coming from the back of the building.
Bergeron called it into dispatch before the alarms or any other callers, I caught that on the scanner and headed to the scene fast.
Bergeron and Gendreau went around back, where the smoke was, saw flames, and headed inside to bang on doors and get people out.
Bergeron told me tonight that it wasn't too bad inside. There wasn't smoke in the hallways until they got to the third floor. He was concerned a story on the fire not be overly dramatic, so hopefully it isn't. It was nice timing though.
I watched that fire burn Tuesday night, as you can see in the video, and wondered how much longer it could have burned at that rate before turning into a very very large blaze.
The few extra seconds or minute those officers bought the fire department really might have made a difference.
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This was quite a scene on Stevens Street, a block up from Chelmsford Street late Sunday night. The guy pictured here,lost control of his brand new Toyota while driving down Stevens Street, barely squeezed between two trees, which you can see below in the foreground, and then took out the front porch on a
vacant house.
Firefighters went under the roof, which they said was stable where it came to rest, and cut the windshield off the Toyota to get the driver out. As of now, I only know that he's a 27-year-old Lowell man. I should have his name by later tonight and I'll update then. He went to Lowell General Hospital with some broken bones, but nothing life-threatening, police said. It must have been quite a ride.
I've never blogged before, so this could be an adventure. Hopefully not too over the top and not too boring. I'll try to get some color and safety tips and other stuff on here that we can't fit in the regular paper to keep it worth your while.
Reporters feed off tips, and questions, and criticism, so comment a lot. Let me have it, and tell me what I need to find out.
I'll work on getting some pictures and video up here too. There's plenty of stuff in this city that all of you should see.
Once I get the hang of the technical side of this I'll get up some older pictures and videos just to get us all caught up.
