Politics & Government

Central Falls, Lincoln Man Pleads to North Kingstown Domestic Charges

For his plea, Michael Tunstall, 23, is ordered to serve probation and a suspended sentence.

WAKEFIELD – A Central Falls man was ordered to serve a suspended sentence and probation after he pleaded no contest on Tuesday in Washington County Superior Court to charges of slapping his girlfriend across the face.

Michael Tunstall, 23, formerly of 10 Grant Ave., Lincoln, and now of 19 Summer St., Central Falls, pleaded no contest to North Kingstown police charges of simple assault, violating a no-contact order and refusing to relinquish a telephone.

Superior Court Associate Justice Edwin Gale ordered Tunstall to serve a year of probation and a one-year suspended sentence for the simple assault and no-contact order violation charges. The sentences run concurrently, along with three months probation and a three-month suspended sentence for the telephone violation.

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A no-contact order was also upheld between Tunstall and the victim in the case, a 26-year-old woman. The order is in effect until March 14, 2013.

According to North Kingstown police reports included in court documents, Tunstall was arrested following an incident in August 2009.

Find out what's happening in North Kingstownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

According to police, the victim told them that Tunstall had showed up at her house in North Kingstown and forced the door open, and then slapped her across the face. The woman said she had a no-contact order out against him, and that she had no idea how he found out her current address.

North Kingstown police searched the area and couldn't find Tunstall. They asked police in Lincoln and Providence to check two addresses for them, based on information provided by the victim. The following day, Tunstall was found by Lincoln police at one of the addresses.

All information is compiled from records at Fourth Division District Court and Washington County Superior Court.


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