Police Log: Ukrainian Bank Fraud & A Runaway Car

Sunday, July 28

1:53 p.m. – Police arrested Paul Robert Gerencser, 39, of Weatherside Road, Cheshire, Conn., for domestic assault and disorderly conduct, after allegedly hitting his girlfriend in the face and pouring a can of soda in her lap while she was driving them across the Jamestown Bridge into North Kingstown. The woman told police she had called 911 in Newport first, but then they got in the car and she began driving. Newport police confirmed a 911 call had been made. The couple was arguing while crossing the bridges, culminating in the soda can allegedly being poured into the woman's lap and Gerencser striking her in the face. The woman pulled over on Boston Neck Road and called 911 again, this time waiting for police to respond. Gerencser told police the woman had been the aggressor. Based on the two 911 calls, the woman's wet clothes and redness on her face, police decided to charge Gerencser with assault and disorderly conduct. He was processed at the station, arraigned by a justice of the peace, and released on $5,000 personal recognizance. A no-contact order was also issued against him for the woman involved.

11:05 p.m. – Police arrested Paul Alan Gagnon, 55, of Hamlet Street in West Warwick, for drinking while driving, after he was stopped while driving on Route 4 north by Ten Rod Road and police saw him drift over lane lines. Gagnon said he was on his way to West Warwick from Block Island. Police could smell alcohol on him and saw he had bloodshot eyes. He failed a field sobriety test. On a preliminary breath test, he tested 0.170 blood alcohol content. He was taken into custody; at the station, his BAC tested .177 percent and .187 percent. He was charged with DUI of liquor, first offense, greater than .15. Police also cited him for laned roadway violations.

Monday, July 29

10:24 a.m. – A North Kingstown woman told police she'd received a fake check in connection to a rental property she owns in Florida. The woman said she'd arranged via email to rent the property from Aug. 17-24 for a total of $1,999, but then she received a check for $3,848.35, nearly twice as much as owed. The person renting the property asked the NK woman to send the $1,858.35 to her travel agent, in Donetsk, Ukraine, via Western Union. The NK woman did so, but after the money was picked up, she learned from her bank that the check had been a fake. Police told the woman there was little they could do but encouraged her to contact her bank.

10:36 a.m. – Police arrested Josef Charles Antinucci, 45, of Liberty Church Road in Exeter, for driving with a suspended license after he was pulled over because his car was not registered. Routine checks turned up the license suspension. He was taken to the station, processed and released with a District Court summons.

1:06 p.m. – A Middletown man told police he'd left his car – a standard – parked in a driveway on Cedar Drive, setting the parking brake but leaving it in gear. The car then rolled down the driveway into a fence that runs alongside. The fence suffered moderate damage.

2:27 p.m. – A North Kingstown man told police he found a small vial of off-white powder in his 11-year-old son's camping gear. The two of them had returned home from a week at Boy Scout camp at Yawgoo in Hopkinton on Sunday. The boy said he'd seen the vial while packing up but didn't know what it was. Police tested the contents, finding it was not cocaine but it wasn't clear whether or not it was heroin. Further testing was to be done.

8:50 p.m. – Police arrested Venessa Lynn Williams, 26, of Merrill Lane, on charges of disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and three counts of assault after fighting with police. Police went to a parking lot on Merrill Lane after a report of a disturbance there. They found around 20 people in the parking lot. Williams, one of those gathered, started to charge one of the young men in the group. When police told her to stop, she yelled at them to get away from her. According to the report, Williams appeared to have been drinking. She kept yelling and swearing at the police. She resisted police attempts to take her into custody, kicking two officers even after she was in handcuffs. According to the person who called the police, Williams had been argumentative and verbally abusive to children in the area. Another witness told police Williams had pushed her son. At the station, Williams continued to be uncooperative. After complaining of a head injury, she was taken to Kent Hospital, then returned to the station to await arraignment in the morning.

Tuesday, July 30

10:59 p.m. – Police arrested Daniel Edward Donnelly, 34, of South Road in Exeter, for driving with an suspended license after police saw him drifting over the double yellow line more than once while traveling on Dry Bridge Road. Donnelly told police he'd been changing the radio station and didn't realize he'd drifted. Routine checks turned up the license violation and he was placed in custody. Police searched the car and found a small bag of marijuana. Donnelly was booked at the station, issued a District Court summons, cited for the marijuana (less than an ounce), and released.

Wednesday, July 31

1:12 p.m. – Police arrested John Coppa of Warwick for driving without a motorcycle license after he was pulled over on West Main Street after police had noticed his moped had no license plate while he was checking the storage containers behind the police station. Coppa told police he'd been looking to see if his dingy was there because he thought the harbormaster had impounded it. He said the moped's license fell off a few days earlier but he hadn't reported it lost or stolen. The bike was not registered and he did not have a license to drive it. He was processed at the police station, issued a district court summons and various citations and released.

Thursday, Aug. 1

2:02 p.m. – An Orchard Woods Drive resident told police someone took her purse from her unlocked car sometime overnight on July 30. Most of the contents had been recovered in her neighborhood and Narragansett police called her on July 31 to say her purse had been found on Middlebridge Road there. The only items still missing, she said, were her wallet, two credit cards, $80 cash, and a Starbucks gift card.