December 2009 Archives

I missed a good arrest while I was away on Christmas vacation, so I'm going to go back a few days on this one.

Michael Canada, 22, who has lived in Pelham, and Lowell, was pulled over for having a headlight out on Marsh Road in Pelham.

Officers thought Canada appeared intoxicated and "extremely nervous" as they approached the car, so they asked him to get out of the car. Canada said he didn't have any weapons on him, but a quick pat frisk proved he was lying, according to Pelham Police.

Sgt. Anne Perriello found a loaded Walter P22 semi-automatic in the waistband of Canda's pants, according to Pelham Police.

Here's a generic picture of a P22 from the internet.

"Canada later advised officers that he did not tell them about the gun because he would not hurt them. He stated that he carried it for personal protection," Pelham Police said in a press release.

He was charged with carrying a loaded firearm without a permit, and violation of a restraining order, since he had an RO that kept him from having firearms.

He was held over for court.

No word on whether Canada also failed to tell officers that he was recently arrested by Lowell Police for firearms offenses too.

Those charges from from June, when Canada and another man were accused of walking up to a car on Chapel Street in Back Central and sticking a sawed-off shotgun into the window of the car before demanding the car's two occupants hand over all their valuables.

The men in the car refused, and a single shot was fired from the shotgun. That shotgun slug ended up in the dash of the car, and Canada and the other man fled, according to police.

No one was hurt. Canada was arrested at 5 Shawsheen St., in Billerica, a few hours later. Police found the shotgun, with two live rounds still loaded in it, and a spent shell casing, in the trunk of a car in Billerica.

Word is Canada was supposed to be on house arrest, wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet on his ankle as a result of the Lowell case, but I'm still waiting to hear back from Pelham on whether he had it on.

The really interesting thing about all of this is who the victim in the attempted robbery was, but I was given a very compelling reason along with a request that I not publish that information, so I'm going to abide by the request.

I'm also waiting to hear back about whether New Hampshire courts ordered Canada held.

Canada told Pelham Police he has been living in Woburn recently. Pretty interesting, cause local police arrested a guy in Woburn recently for another crime that made some headlines.

I was initially not that interested in a domestic incident tonight out on Boyleston Street in Lowell, where a fairly large, 260 pound, suspect, apparently had some issues with family members.

The guy fled the scene, though, and before long police called in a canine officer from Methuen and began tracking the attacker.

The track led onto Interstate 495, so if you saw a police dog and several officers jogging down the highway about 6:45 p.m., now you know what they were doing.

The dog lost the track in Stadium Plaza.

Police say the suspect has a lot of ties to Tewksbury, and police there are looking for him too. He's about 6 feet tall, 260 pounds, but I missed his clothing description.

No one was hospitalized as a result of the domestic. I don't have many details on what happened there yet.

The National Weather Service estimated a little low before the last snowstorm, but I still call them when I need information for a story because they're usually the best.

So, here is what they're estimating for overnight tonight.

And here's a link if you want to see a bigger version.

It looks to me like we could be in for it if this storm drifts north a bit.

Tyngsboro Police got a call to Washington Savings Bank, 253 Middlesex Road, today at 2:29 p.m.

Officers learned a white, middle-aged woman had entered the bank, passed a note to a teller demanding cash, and then escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash. No weapon was shown.

The woman was last seen walking down Farwell Road next to the bank, and was seen getting into a small, gray two-door vehicle, that may have been a Honda, police said.

She is described as a white female, middle-aged, wearing all black, with a coat, hat and sunglasses.

You can also refer to the photos of her during the holdup that are spread throughout this entry.

Anyone with information is asked to call Tyngsboro Police at 978.649.7504.

I can't tell you how much it stinks as a reporter to think that you know something, and to be fairly confident about it, but to be completely unable to confirm it.

I've had the following bit of text in the can for over a month now, but police wouldn't even consider confirming or denying this information.

Based on the press release I just got from the Middlesex District Attorney's Office, I would say it has now been confirmed, though.

So here is the information not included in the press release. This case was never even slightly cold.

Those of you with sharp eyes will remember that I wrote about Hernandez's arrest. One commenter on topix was even perceptive enough to notice and comment on the coincidence at the time.

I hated being unable to respond to that.

Two of the men indicted for the murders today, Ariel Hernandez, 21, of 9 Phillips St., and Timothy Brown, 21, of 80 Bridge St., unit 304, have been in custody since shortly after the killings -- in Hernandez's case, since just 50 minutes after the killings.
Hernandez and Giovanni Hill, 20, of 70 Agawam St., were both arrested following a motor vehicle stop at Fletcher and Rock streets in the Acre on Oct. 23 at 2:20 a.m., just 50 minutes after the slaying.
Officers had been looking for their car in connection with a robbery near the scene of the killing.
Police said two women, who were not identified, were walking near White Street and Second Avenue about 8:30 p.m., on Oct. 22, when a car pulled up next to them.
One of the men in the car pulled a handgun on the women, pulled back the slide atop the gun to load it, and demanded the women's purses, police said.
The women handed over their bags, containing cash and credit cards, but managed to note the license plate of the car the men were in as they drove away, police said.
Five hours later, about 1:30 a.m., the Delgado brothers were gunned down inside their apartment, about a block from the scene of the robbery.
At 2:20 a.m., police spotted the license plate the robbery victims had noted.
Officers stopped Hernandez and Hill near Fletcher and Rock streets, and both men were charged with armed robbery while masked.
Hernandez was also charged with carrying a firearm without a license, unlawful possession of ammunition, possession of a firearm with a defaced serial number, and failure to stop for a stop sign.
At their arraignments the following day in Lowell District Court, Hill was ordered held without bail and Hernandez was ordered held on $25,000 bail, but held without bail on a probation warrant from superior court.
A spokesman for District Attorney Gerard Leone said she could not comment on why Hernandez was on probation.
Hernandez had also been arrested in December of 2006 after someone called police because they saw two men hiding in the bushes outside a pizza shop near Wood Street, according to reports in The Sun.
The caller saw the men pulling bandanas over their faces.
Officers responded and chased Hernandez, who appeared to be holding a handgun, into a nearby wooded area, where he was arrested. The handgun turned out to be a BB gun.
Hernandez and Juan Ramirez, 18, of Lowell, were charged with conspiracy to commit armed robbery and disorderly conduct. Hernandez was also charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and resisting arrest.
It was not immediately clear whether Hernandez was convicted in that case, or whether that case is why he was on probation.
Brown was arrested a little more than a day later, on Oct. 25.
Several police detectives, led by Detective Lt. Dan Larocque, went to his multi-unit apartment building downtown as a driving rain fell on Oct. 24 and requested fire department help with forcing open a door, according to police radio broadcasts.
At least three unmarked cruisers were parked at that building late on that Saturday night.
Brown was charged with possession of a firearm without a license, unlawful possession of ammunition, accessory after the fact of armed robbery, and receiving stolen property over $250.
He was arraigned Oct. 26 in Lowell District Court, and ordered held on $75,000 cash bail.

I don't know anything about the McDougal's, though I'll certainly be watching for their arrests if they're found.

Lisa Redmond is in court today and will handle all of this from here on out.

Here is a link to what I had in the paper today about Silva's arrest.

About 40 minutes ago, city detectives arrested Joshua Silva, 23, of 27 Clitheroe St., Lowell, on a warrant charging him with armed home invasion and two counts of murder in connection with the Oct. 23 killing of Hector Delgado, 37, and Luis "Toni" Martinez Delgado, 34, of Lowell.

Here is a link to the breaking news.

That's all that is being released. I'll update with more later. I'm very very busy right now.

I've got a few things cooking here tonight so I'll just link to the lengthy breaking news I just filed on the cause of Sunday's fatal crash on Andover Street in Lowell.

Police have determined the 22-year-old driver was texting just as he crashed.

He died at Saints Medical Center.

Look for a lot more on this later. Lowell Police are calling for a law to make texting a primary violation -- one that officers can pull you over.

Police today put all officers on the lookout, and asked the public to be on the lookout, for a red car who's teenager driver has been accosting young girls walking in Centralville.

On at least one occassion the driver exposed himself to a young girl.

So far most of the incidents have occurred between 6 and 8 a.m., and involve the driver of a red car, possibly a 1994 Honda Civic hatchback, similar to the one shown in this picture I found on the web.

Police say they so far have four similar reports, from Nov. 27, Dec. 3, Dec. 7 and today, that a white, teenaged male with scruffy, messy hair, possibly a lip ring and freckles, pulling up alongside young girls and trying to make conversation.

At times the conversation is sexual in nature, police said.

Anyone with information on this person, or who spots this person, is asked to call Lowell Police at 978-937-3200 immediately.

Police would very much like to speak with him.

After reporting yesterday on a terrible crash on Andover Street in Lowell, I learned tonight about strikingly similar crash that claimed the life of a Billerica woman in Austin, Texas last week.

Kristen Corbett, 20, of Billerica, was killed when her car failed to negotiate a curve on a road in Austin just before midnight Wednesday night. She struck a tree.

Police say they believe she was speeding, and that she was not wearing her seatbelt.

Those are exactly the circumstances of Sunday's fatal crash in Lowell.

Corbett was even driving the same model of car as Stephen Clark, 22, of Tewksbury, who was killed in the Lowell crash - a Nissan Altima.

I talked to Kristen's father tonight and she sounds like she was quite a girl. I'll have a lot more about her in tomorrow's paper, and possibly a lengthy follow-up on Wednesday.

Those at Clark's home asked for privacy when another reporter reached them today.

Tewksbury Police are shutting down Main Street in front of Smitty's Liquors, 1091 Main St., as we speak because a vehicle just hit a utility pole and split it in half.

Reports are that the vehicle's occupants are out and walking around, so apparently no serious injuries, but it sounds like the pole is a mess and wires are down. Might want to avoid the area if you're heading that way for some weird reason at 10:45 p.m.

Reports now that there is a wire on the car, so they can't even more the car until National Grid shows up. Police say National Grid isn't expected on scene for about 20 minutes, so the road will probably be closed for a while.

Police say a 22-year-old Tewksbury man was killed today when his Nissan Altima went off Andover Street, left no skid marks, and slammed into a large tree next to the inbound lanes just before Holbrook Avenue, about 11:09 a.m.

A couple neighbors told me they heard the crash, but I couldn't find anyone in the neighborhood who witnessed it.

Lt. Timothy Crowley, who oversees the traffic bureau, said it appears the driver got distracted for a second while going around the slight curve to the left.

Crowley said speed may be a factor, and at the speed police think the driver was going, it only would have taken a second to leave the road and hit the tree.

The tree still had a large mark on it from the impact tonight. It's over 2 feet thick.

No word on an identity yet, police are still trying to make sure all family members have been notified.

The driver was stuck in the car for about 30 minutes, and firefighters had to cut off the roof and door to get him out. He was taken to Saints Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Lisa Redmond has a pretty funny story on today's front page about people fighting traffic tickets in area courts.

One thing that caught my eye was a guy saying he thinks Lowell has quotas, but I've certainly never heard that they do.

The traffic patrol details that Superintendent Lavallee has pushed at the LPD have certainly led to a pretty serious crackdown on motor vehicle offenses, though.

And the folks working those details don't mess around.

The number of traffic citations in Lowell has tripled since Lavallee took over, so if you think you can zip around the city playing fast and loose with traffic laws, expect to get nailed sooner or later.

They've even gotten me twice.

First was over a year ago, when, like a girl mentioned in Lisa's story, I had gone a while with an expired inspection sticker.

Unlike the girl in the story I hadn't forgotten, but I went a few months with a rejection sticker because I just couldn't afford the necessary repairs.

A traffic enforcement officer caught me on the Lord Overpass and wrote me up.

Honest to God, I was on my way to Lowell Automatic Transmission, about 200-yards away, to finally get my new sticker when I was stopped.

I told the officer that, but since I had been expired for several months it didn't get me anywhere.

I had to admit he had a point.

A few months later an officer got me on Route 110 going under the Hunts Falls Rotary. Did you know the speed limit there is only 35?

I thought it was 45, and was definitely speeding since I was heading toward a report of a rollover accident on Haverhill Street in Dracut.

Worst thing about that ticket is that not only did the officer not care that I was rushing to an accident, the accident ended up being extremely minor, no one hurt, and no rollover.

That trip didn't have 35 cents worth of news value, nevermind over $100.

Folks should watch themselves in Lowell, though. There might not be quotas, but Lowell Police are extremely serious about cracking down on drivers.

This time on Hancock Avenue, right off Salem Street in the Acre. Police got the call at 10:24 p.m., and found a red Ford Explorer with a shot through the driver's side window, the driver's door, and the rear driver's side tire.

Here's the holes in the window and door.

At lhree shell casings in the street. No people struck and no witnesses that I know of, though there is a Housing Authority camera nearby that police hope caught the suspects on video.

No word on whether this could be related to the other incident tonight.

I missed most of this because I was off at the shooting, but firefighters got called to 24-26 Swift St., in Back Central, tonight about 7:50 p.m., because building owner Elze Scandorierro was watching television in her first-floor bedroom when she smelled smoke.

Everyone got out alright, and firefighters were able to contain the fire to the first-floor room of origin, according to Deputy Chief Patrick McCabe.

It appears the cause was electrical in nature. No one was hurt.

McCabe said power to the building would have to be cut, though.

Scandorierro said she lives on the first floor with her husband, two children, two grandchildren and someone else. A husband, wife and child live on the second floor, and a husband and wife live on the first floor.

As of 6:39 p.m., Lowell Police are trying to figure out what happened to a guy who showed up at the Lowell General Hospital with gunshot wounds to his leg and chest.

It sounds like police have very limited information, and aren't even sure at this point where he was shot. From what I've heard on the scanner they're going to transfer this guy to Boston, so it could be serious.

Will update with more information as I get it.

UPDATE: Victim tells police he was talking on Wood Street up the hill toward the Rourke Bridge when a car drove past him and someone fired shots out of the car. No description on the car.

Police are heading that direction now and hoping to secure footage from cameras at CVS if they exist.

UPDATE: The victim here was a 20-year-old Lowell man.

About 20 minutes after the guy showed up at the hospital police began looking for an older model, blue Geo Tracker that apparently took the man to the hospital.

Police recognized that vehicle and it's license plate, and within about 30 minutes located it parked at 75 Smith St., and had it towed.

The victim was shot in the sternum (center chest) and ankle, and was flown to a Boston Hospital. His injuries are apparently life-threatening.

No arrests so far.

Police didn't appear to find any evidence of a shooting near the Rourke Bridge, nor did anyone call them about gunshots even though the bridge is heavily-travelled.

Police now tell me they don't think the shooting actually happened near the bridge, but they declined to say where they think it did occur.

Anyone with information is asked to call Lowell police at 978-937-3200 or Crimestoppers at 978-459-TIPS (8477). Information can also be sent to police via Text-a-Tip, by texting TIP411 (847411) with the subject "LPDTIP."
Tipsers can remain anonymous, but can receive up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest.

Billerica Police say they have charged a guy named Shawn Maille, 33, of 317 Nesmith St., Lowell, with trying to hold up Market Basket at 199 Boston Road on Thursday afternoon about 2 p.m.

They also arrested a guy named Stephen Richardson, 35, of 144 High St., Chelmsford, for driving a getaway car for Maille, according to a press release from Detective Sgt. Roy Frost.

Maille went into the Market Basket in Billerica on Thursday, handed a note to a clerk at the courtesy desk demanding cash, and was promptly rejected by the clerk, police said.

He gave up nice and easy, and fled into a car that was waiting for him outside.

Billerica had him in custody by Friday morning, when he was arraigned in Lowell District Court.

Police say Maille is also a suspect in three other recent robberies, all at Market Basket's around the region.

The first was in Woburn, on Oct. 27, then in Chelmsford on Nov. 14, and Wilmington on Nov. 19.

Here's a surveillance picture from the Chelmsford heist, which featured the same M.O. The guy walks to the courtesy desk, passes a note, and never shows a weapon. It worked in Chelmsford, though. The bad guy got away with an undisclosed amount of cash.

Police in Chelmsford and Wilmington tell me they haven't filed charges yet, but that Maille is a suspect in both heists. I couldn't reach anyone in Woburn.

As of about 5 minutes ago Chelmsford Police asked all departments in Northeastern Massachusetts and the state police to keep their eyes peeled for a brown, 2001 Buick LeSabre, with Massachusetts license plate 1447YH.

According to police radio broadcasts, a 17-year-old girl who only has her learner's permit is driving that car, and she has sent someone at least one text message saying that she's being held against her will.

That's all I've got for now. I'm told the shift commander in Chelmsford is out on the street, and the deputy chief didn't answer his cell phone.

In case you're not a car person, here is a picture of a brown, 2001 Buick LeSabre that I found online.

Police haven't contacted us to ask us to get the public involved, but I doubt I'll piss anyone off by suggesting that anyone who sees this car call Chelmsford Police immediately at 978-256-2521.

UPDATE This is more of a well-being check than an abduction. According to Chief James Murphy, the girl's father called police about 7 p.m., because she had taken his car without permission.
The father texted her and she texted back and said that she was "unable to return home," Chief Murphy said.

Police just want to find her and make sure she's okay. Police think she might be heading to Taunton.

FINAL UPDATE: This girl was located in Hudson, Mass. She was fine and told police she had gone to Taunton to visit some friends, according to Chief Murphy.

Here's a little video of what was left of a motor home that caught fire on Parker Street, just down from Pine Street, this afternoon as it sat in front of it's owner's house.

John Lavallee, of 480 Parker St., told me he tried to put the fire out when he looked outside and noticed it but there was no stopping it with a little extinguisher.

Firefighters only needed about 10 minutes to douse the flames, but by then the motor home was gutted.

Lavallee said the motor home, which he has owned for seven or eight years, had taken him and his wife up and down the East Coast and as far west as Nebraska.

He didn't think his insurance would cover fire damage.

Lavallee said the home was parked out front so he could winterize it and put it away for the winter. He said it was plugged into electricity when the fire started.

Firefighters said the cause is under investigation.

Once the fire was out Stuart's Towing towed the home off the street.

I'm too swamped tonight to go nuts on writing individual blog entries on everything, so here is the breaking news on a fire in Shirley that left a 46-year-old woman severely burned.

Hawthorne, the fire captain mentioned in the story, downplayed the idea that he did anything weird, though.

"It is what it is," he told me. "It's a full-time job."

Police say 25-year-old Carlos Rivera, of Lowell, was shot to death early Sunday morning at Union and Linden streets in Back Central.

Breaking news on the story is here.

Alexandra kicked butt on this story, and met up with Rivera's girlfriend this afternoon. She'll have a lot of information in her story for the paper.

Turns out Rivera's a father of four. His oldest child is 6 - the youngest an infant.
His father was never in his life and his mother died years ago. He had been on his own since age 13.

A neighbor said she heard about 12 gunshots.

Police found Rivera about 2:30 a.m. He was pronounced dead at Saints.

No word from police or the DA on exactly what happened. No arrests so far.

Rivera had been eating at Santoro's, which he did most weekends, but there's no indication the restaurant had anything to do with the killing.

Superintendent Lavallee declined to comment on whether there is an issue at Santoro's, where violent incidents in the past have gotten a lot of attention, because he said he wants to learn more about exactly what happened.

But as one officer put it to me tonight in a comment not meant for attribution: "They sell subs. That doesn't kill anyone."

Police in Londonderry, NH just got me a press release saying that Eric Barbarossa, 21, of Lowell, was killed by an accident in their town this afternoon.

Police say Barbarossa was driving south on Mammoth Road about 1:30 p.m., when it appears he crossed the center line near 163 Mammoth Road and plowed head-on into a Ford F150 driven by Steven Tornberg, 63, of Londonderry.

Tornberg was treated at Parkland Medical Center in Derry for minor injuries.

Police said Barbarossa was trapped in his car until firefighters were able to free him, and that he was then taken to Parkland Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead about 4 p.m.

Police were on scene reconstruction the crash until about 5 p.m. Mammoth Road was closed in that area.

From what I can tell with a quick archive search, it doesn't look like Barbarossa has ever been in any trouble. It looks like he used to wrestle for Greater Lowell Tech., as I get a lot of hits on wrestling results when I run his name through the archives.

Police say there's no immediate indication of what happened, but they do not think the crash was caused by the weather.

I'm not sure how people feel about snow here in the newsroom, but one thing we're not huge fans of is when snow is forecast to fall after deadline, and then finish before the paper hits the streets.

Lotta fun writing a weather story about something that hasn't happened yet, but which will have happened by the time what you wrote is published.

So far the National Weather Service is predicting about 5 inches of snow for the Merrimack Valley Area, as you can see in this handy MAP they have hosted on their website.

Here's a smaller version of the map that I resized to fit here.

They're collecting snowfall totals, but as of 5:22 p.m., the only one posted in for Goshen, Massachusetts, in Hampshire County, where there was 2 inches of snow as of 4:22 p.m.

The Winter Weather Advisory says snow will pickup between 5:30 and 7, and end up in accumulations of 2 to 5 inches.
As of 5:28 p.m., there are some snowflakes here in Lowell.

The advisory says that things will clear out overnight, which could lead to black ice on roads between 6 or 7 a.m.

Everyone remembers how to drive in this stuff right?

Police got multiple 911 calls tonight about 11:10 p.m., for shots fired on Prospect Street, just off Central Street in Back Central.

Officers got to 32 Prospect St., and found 7 shell casings from a .45 caliber handgun on the side of the street, but no immediately apparent damage or injuries.

A .45 is a pretty serious gun.

There were two small holes in a home at 28-30 Prospect St., but they appeared to be too small to have been made by a .45, and the holes didn't line up with where the casings were.

Police collected the casings and looked around for other evidence, and were watching the area for a small black car, possibly a Honda, with two-doors, and two men inside.

More information was not immediately available.

Anyone with information is asked to call Lowell police at 978-937-3200 or Crimestoppers at 978-459-TIPS (8477). Information can also be sent to police via Text-a-Tip, by texting TIP411 (847411) with the subject "LPDTIP."
Tipsers can remain anonymous, but can receive up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest.