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March 20, 2008

Alleged architect of Internet fraud scheme nabbed

Federal authorities today arrested the alleged architect of an Internet scheme that bilked nearly $13 million from people who ordered electronic goods from a company he set up over a toy store he ran in downtown Providence.

David Whitaker, who has a long criminal history, was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport by U.S. Secret Service agents and other federal authorities after he disembarked from a flight originating in Mexico. He had been living in Acapulco until Mexican authorities expelled him.

Whitaker fled Rhode Island two years ago after the company he co-founded, Mixitforme.com, imploded amid complaints it hadn’t delivered thousands of iPods, videogame systems, cell phones and other consumer electronics ordered over the Internet by people around the country.

A federal criminal complaint filed today in U.S. District Court lists five customers that lost some of the $13 million to Mixitforme. In all, the five wired nearly $2.5 million to the company to pay for electronics they never received.

-- Journal staff writer Paul Grimaldi

“I lost my house because of this,” Matthew Grosso said earlier this year. Grosso owned Interactive Learning Networks, one of the five entities listed in the federal complaint.

On Dec. 28, 2005, Interactive Learning wired nearly $758,000 to Mixitforme’s account at Bank Rhode Island, money Grosso’s been chasing ever since.

“I don’t ever expect to get my money back,” he said.

In addition to Grosso and other customers, a Georgia-based company hired by Mixitforme to process credit-card transactions lost an additional $2.2 million, money the processor refunded cardholdersto cardholders who never received their orders, according to the 14-page complaint.

The complaint notes Whitaker “spent millions of dollars of Mixitforme funds on lavish personal expenses, including . . . the purchase of four luxury automobiles, the rental of a mansion in Miami at approximately $200,000 per month, the repeated use of private airplanes, repeated stays at luxury hotels, regular use of limousine drivers, a team of security personnel and the rental of a yacht.”

The 33-year-old Whitaker now faces 10 federal charges of defrauding Mixitforme’s customers and Nova Information Systems, the Georgia-based credit-card processor used by Mixitforme. Each of the fraud charges holds a maximum prison sentence of 20 years and a $250,000 fine.

Whitaker was taken before a federal judge in Los Angeles today, according to a government spokesman, where lawyers were expected to ask that he be transferred to face criminal charges in Rhode Island. The result of that hearing today was undetermined as of this time.

It’s possible Whitaker will face additional criminal charges in other states where he once operated similar businesses, including New Mexico, where he set up another Internet operation, according to law-enforcement officials.

Whitaker fled to Mexico in mid-2006 shortly before authorities searched Coyotego.com, a business he set up in Albuquerque, N.M. Federal authorities traced him to Acapulco, where he was recently charged by the Mexican government with being in that country illegally, according to Tom Connell, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Providence.

A Secret Service spokesman declined to say how his agency tracked Whitaker to Acapulco, though he had surfaced in Miami, Fla., and Albuquerque after leaving Rhode Island, according to law-enforcement officials and lawyers familiar with the case.

Whitaker used a number of aliases in Rhode Island, New Mexico and elsewhere, according to the federal document, including “David Andrews,” “Slade Austin” and “Michael Ballard.” He also went simply by “Chase” or “Josh.”

Whitaker is the third person charged in the Mixitforme case.

In January, a former Warwick man pleaded guilty to charges in connection with the case. Cory Johnson, formerly of 272 Pierce Ave., is due to be sentenced June 20 on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering for his role in the Internet retailer. Johnson ran the company with Whitaker.

A government lawyer told a federal judge that authorities could prove that Johnson signed documents claiming Mixitforme’s gross receipts totaled about $2.3 million during 2003 and 2004, years in which the company wasn’t registered to do business and that Johnson’s federal tax returns for those years don’t reflect any business income from Mixitforme.

Separately, the government alleges that Johnson improperly transferred $27,000 in December 2005 from Mixitforme’s business account at Bank Rhode Island to his personal account at the bank.

The 29-year-old Johnson faces up to 15 years in prison and fines totaling $500,000. Johnson has surrendered his passport to federal authorities but remains free on a $50,000 unsecured bond. He now lives in Morrisville, Pa.

A former Bank Rhode Island branch manager, David Carpenter, also faces prison time for his part role in the scam, which put his Providence-based bank on the hook for more than $3 million in loseslosses.

A federal judge will sentence Carpenter, 34, of Cranston, next month as a result of a guilty plea he made in December in federal court. Carpenter acknowledged in court that he accepted a bribe -- the promise of a high-paying job at Mixitforme -- in exchange for helping defraud the bank of nearly $1 million. That’s the amount initially lost by the bank before it discovered the fraud. Bank Rhode Island has since recovered the bulk of that money from its insurer.

The charges against the three men arose after agents from the Secret Service, the FBI, the U.S. Postal Service, the Internal Revenue Service, state and Providence police seized business records and computer equipment in March 2006 from the company’s office at 275 Westminster St.

The records seizure at Mixitforme followed a move by Bank Rhode Island to push the company into state receivership in an attempt to collect at least $900,000 the bank was owed by the online electronics retailer. State receivership is a form of bankruptcy in which a court appoints a fiduciary to either sell a company or liquidate it to pay accumulated debt.

A court-appointed receiver shut down Biggles Toy Store, a business related to Mixitforme that was run out of the same building at 275 Westminster St.

Whitaker and Johnson, who lived together for a time in Providence, ran both companies.

In phone conversations Whitaker initiated late last year with a Journal reporter, he said he started the business to sell iPods, preloaded with music, to customers they found over the Internet. He then sold the business to Johnson and they ran it together.

Johnson was listed as the company owner in a business registration statement filed with the state.

Whitaker went by the titles of “presidential advisor,” “counsel to the president,” and the more pedestrian “chief operating officer” while Mixitforme operated in Rhode Island, first out of a house in Cranston and then at the Westminster Street building.

Whitaker and Johnson eventually moved into high-priced residences in the Peerless building, just down the street from Mixitforme’s office, according to former employees and others, a move Whitaker acknowledged to a reporter.

Today’s court filing outlines a criminal record dating back to 1997, when he was arrested by the FBI in Hawaii for bank fraud and “e-racketeering.”

He was sentenced to a year in prison and ordered to pay restitution of more than $158,000 in that case.

He was arrested in New Orleans in 1998, again by the FBI, for bank fraud and sentenced to a year in prison.

A 2000 arrest by U.S. Marshals for forging securities followed, though the document does not state where he served his 10-month sentence. He also served “substantial time” in federal prison for violating parole, the document states.

-- Journal staff writer Paul Grimaldi

Posted by Mike McKinney at 6:54 PM | Comment

Tonight: Exhibit on Iraq war at Pawtucket Armory

An exhibit that is part of a month-long series called "Experiencing the War in Iraq" is at the Pawtucket Armory, 176 Exchange St. until 8 p.m.

Another exhibit for the series was at Machines with Magnets, 700 Main St., Pawtucket, but viewing of that exhibit closed for today at 6 p.m.

The fifth anniversary of the war's start is being marked this week.

Posted by Mike McKinney at 6:42 PM | Comment

Smoke-shop case: First account by tribal member

Journal photo / Mary Murphy
Hiawatha Brown, left, one of seven Narragansett Indians on trial in Providence Superior Court for assault and resisting arrest at the raid of the tribal smoke shop, looks at photos by Victoria Arocho, former Associated Press photographer, taken during the raid. Arocho testified for the defense today.

PROVIDENCE -- Jurors heard today from the first Narragansett Indian to take the stand about his account of the state police raid on tax-free smoke shop the tribe opened in July 2003.

Tribal Administrator Anthony Dean Stanton testified in the 14th day of trial for seven Narragansetts accused of scuffling with and resisting state police as they executed a search and seizure warrant on the store on tribal land in Charlestown.

Stanton learned at a tribal assembly meeting the tribe would open the smoke shop as a money-making venture, he said. As the administrator of tribal programs, he worked with the planning department to clear the land and set up the roadside trailer on Route 2. He was aware Governor Carcieri opposed its opening, but said he didn’t know why.

The tribe began selling cigarettes without charging Rhode Island taxes, against the governor’s wishes, July 12, 2003. A day later a state trooper drove onto the property and spoke briefly with a tribal police officer, he said.

Around noon the next day, Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas told him state police might be on their way. Thomas instructed him, Stanton said, that the tribe would shut the operation down, if they received a federal cease and desist order. There was no mention of how the tribe would respond to an order issued by a state court.

Stanton was among a number of Narragansetts standing roadside as state police arrived.

About 15 to 20 stormed the parking lot, he said, pushing and shoving people as they went. He heard three people, including Thomas, ask officers for paperwork. “I never heard a response,” he said.

At Carcieri’s orders, state police were executing a search and seizure warrant issued by state District Court to stop the tribe from selling tax-free cigarettes. The raid turned into a scuffling match. Seven Narragansetts are on trial for charges that include resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and assault.

-- Journal staff writer Katie Mulvaney

Posted by Mike McKinney at 6:38 PM | Comment

Judge may toss denial of Champlin's Marina expansion

PROVIDENCE -- Superior Court Judge Netti C. Vogel today said that she may throw out the decision made by the state’s coastal agency two years ago to deny Champlin's Marina’s controversial plans to expand on Block Island’s Great Salt Pond and send the proposal back for another vote.

But so many accusations of irregularities have been leveled at various members of the Coastal Resources Management Council in connection with the marina vote, she said that one of her challenges may well be in deciding who gets to vote on Champlin’s if there is a next time.

“The court has made it clear there is a likelihood the (earlier CRMC) decision will not be upheld,” Vogel said in court today. “It has to decide on a remedy and what committee members will be disqualified.”

She said her ruling on the case will come after lawyers present final briefs seeking to disqualify various council members and recommending other ways to resolve the dispute.

The CRMC first met to hear Champlin’s application in December 2003. Over 23 hearings and now protracted court appeals, the case has grown into one of the state’s biggest and most controversial coastal issues in years, and it has prompted widespread criticisms of councilmembers on both sides.

-- Journal environment writer Peter B. Lord

R. Daniel Prentiss, a lawyer for several Block Island groups, asked Vogel today to approve evidentiary hearings and the subpoena of telephone records for three council members who he said were pro-marina because they voted to give Champlin’s about two thirds of the expanded docks it sought.

Prentiss argued that Gerald Zarrella, Thomas Ricci and Jerry Sahagian had all shown a bias in favor of the marina.

Prentiss said the fact that Ricci and Sahagian signed affidavits alleging improper communications by CRMC Chairman Michael Tikoian shows they were trying to help Champlin’s lawyer Robert Goldberg in his appeal of CRMC’s 5-5 decision blocking the expansion.

But Vogel said Prentiss didn’t show enough to justify hearings for either council member.

Sahagian might have been imprudent in comments he made to people during the hearings, she said, but she didn’t think he said anything that would justify disqualifying him.

Prentiss had different complaints about Zarrella, and they attracted Vogel’s attention.

Prentiss said Town Manager Nancy Dodge and First Warden Jack Savoie have provided statements that Zarrella tried to get the town to back off on its opposition to marina expansion.

Prentiss also said Zarrella told former CRMC member and Block Islander Robert Ellis Smith that Champlin’s owner Joseph Grillo is a good guy who should be allowed to expand his marina.

Atty. James D’Ambra, representing Zarrella, said his client was just trying to negotiate a settlement. And if he had any bias toward Champlin’s, D’Ambra said, it wasn’t reflected in his vote. Zarrella voted to give Champlin’s about two thirds of what it wanted.

Goldberg said the allegations against Zarrella involved things he did before the final vote was cast, but no one questioned Zarrella or moved to disqualify him. Now, he said, is too late.

Vogel said she hadn’t heard enough to disqualify Zarrella. But she did agree to an evidentiary hearing limited to the statements from the Block Island officials that Zarrella had talked to. She denied Prentiss’s request for Zarrella’s telephone records so they could be reviewed for calls to Grillo or Goldberg.

She said she was shocked that council members didn’t seem to understand the rules prohibiting them from discussing the case outside of the hearings.

Goldberg has argued that four other council members, including Chairman Michael Tikoian and W. Michael Sullivan, director of the state Department of Environmental Management, should be disqualified because all discussed the case with others before they voted.

Vogel said she may send the case back to the council for another vote, along with instructions to not discuss it with outsiders and to avoid the appearance of impropriety.

Zarrella did not attend the hearing. Contacted later, he said he welcomes further hearings. He conceded he was trying to get town officials to compromise, but he also said he voted only on the evidence presented at the 23 hearings.

Posted by Mike McKinney at 6:05 PM | Comment

Photo: Harp seal released in Charlestown

Photo/Mystic Aquarium


Beached in Little Compton three weeks ago, a yearling harp seal returned to the ocean in Charlestown today. The Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration staff nursed the seal back into health. The seal had an elevated white blood cell count and was dehydrated.

Video: See a video of the May 18, 2007, release of 15 seals, courtesy of Mystic Aquarium

Posted by Peter Phipps at 5:07 PM | Comment

CNBC's The Big Idea to film segments in Pawtucket

CNBC is coming to Pawtucket.

The cable business news network plans to film three segments for its show, The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, on Monday at Doherty’s East Avenue Irish Pub in Pawtucket.

The show looks at new products to find out whether some of them could become big hits with consumers. Past products have included “gourmet” flavoring for pet food to make it taste like cheeseburgers or pizza, a ropeless jump rope, and a women’s energy drink.

Part of the show includes a market research segment called “Will it Play in Peoria,” a reference to Peoria, Ill., the Midwest city that has long been used as a test market for a variety of products, stage shows and political campaigns.

For that feature, local residents are interviewed on camera about a particular product and present their results of an informal poll about whether it will “play in Peoria.”

“CNBC’s The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch goes to the heart of America to get real opinions from real people,” CNBC said in a statement. “We’re going to see if these products will really make millions.”

The show will film that feature in the Pawtucket pub. The crew begins setting up at 12:30 p.m., and the taping is scheduled to run from 2 to 3 p.m.

Three different segments will be filmed. A different one will air on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. The show airs at 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. on CNBC.

-- Journal staff writer Timothy C. Barmann

Posted by Mike McKinney at 3:57 PM | Comment

Manager: Union votes no confidence in E. Prov. chief

EAST PROVIDENCE -- City Manager Richard Brown confirmed today that the local police union has voted no confidence in Police Chief Hubert J. Paquette.

The union, he said, took the vote a week ago yesterday. The vote, he said, was 48 to 34, with 4 or 5 abstentions.

Brown said that "before the vote I met with the members of the bargaining unit and listened to their concerns. I believe the chief has the best of the department at heart. And based on what I've heard, we can all work together to make the East Providence Police Department even better than it is now."

Brown would not comment on what specific concerns were but he said several of the worries centered around communication.

He said the fact that people made the time to meet with him makes him know "it's real and not just grumbling."

Calls for comment from the union had not yet been returned as of this posting. Paquette could also not be reached for comment; he is on an already-scheduled vacation.

-- With reports from Journal staff writer Alisha A. Pina

Posted by Mike McKinney at 3:53 PM | Comment

Mass. House begins debating casino legislation

BOSTON, Mass. -- The House of Representatives began debate today on an all-but-certainly doomed bill that would have allowed casino gambling in Massachusetts, less than 24 hours after Speaker Salvatore DiMasi engineered a pivotal committee vote against it.

The measure called for licensing three so-called destination casinos. DiMasi argued expanded gambling would drain revenues from other businesses and increase personal bankruptcies and petty crime.

While the Joint Committee on Economic Development voted 10-8 against the proposal on Wednesday, DiMasi's opposition was expected to trigger a much wider defeat in the full House.

At the outset of the debate today, expected to last hours, parliamentary maneuvering was apparent, as members who support the proposal failed in an attempt to send it back to the committee for additional study.

"I feel, Mr. Speaker, and my friends and colleagues in this chamber, we have not given this bill due process. We have not given this bill a fair hearing," said Rep. Martin Walsh, D-Boston. "I think that we owe it to the people of the commonwealth of Massachusetts ... to take more time, through the committee process, to look at this legislation."

DiMasi threw down his gavel, telling Walsh his allotted speaking time had expired. He then recognized Rep. Angelo Scaccia, D-Boston, who favored a final vote to kill the measure.

"We all know what our place is on this issue; we don't need to delay it. In fact, Mr. Speaker, our governor does not want it delayed. This issue is ripe. In fact, it's overripe. We should take up this issue today," Scaccia said.

The motion to send the bill back to committee was defeated by a margin of 111-41.

Gov. Deval Patrick sponsored the bill but acknowledged yesterday it was headed for defeat. "I can count," he told reporters several times.

He challenged the speaker to come up with an alternative for the $600 million in licensing fees, $400 million in annual tax revenues and 20,000 permanent jobs analysts had projected the casinos would create.

-- The Associated Press

Posted by Mike McKinney at 2:26 PM | Comment

Regulators approve Long Island Sound LNG terminal

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission today approved a $700 million liquefied natural gas terminal proposed for Long Island Sound.

The terminal would be located 9 miles from Long Island and 10 miles from the Connecticut shoreline.

Environmentalists and many elected officials oppose the project, saying it could imperil the fragile ecosystem in Long Island Sound and that a terrorist attack on the facility could result in catastrophic results.

New York officials have yet to decide on issuing permits for the project. Connecticut officials have warned they will fight in court if the project is approved by federal regulators and New York.

Broadwater Energy, a consortium of Shell Oil and TransCanada Pipelines Ltd., wants to build the terminal, which would be 1,200 feet long and 82 feet high. Plans have called for construction to begin in October 2009 and for the terminal to be operating by December 2010.

FERC, which voted 5-0 to approve the project, says it will be the first floating terminal in the U.S. for storage and delivery of natural gas.

"It's a reasonable and sensible decision by FERC," said Gary Hale, a Broadwater spokesman. "They have input from thousands of hours of efforts from the best scientific minds in the nation, environmentalists, and from the Coast Guard."

Hale said the terminal is needed to meet region's growing energy needs. The New York State Energy Plan, which projects a 37 percent growth in statewide natural gas use by 2021.

About half of the gas from the proposed terminal would go to New York City. Between 25 percent and 30 percent is targeted for Long Island, and the rest would go to Connecticut.

-- The Associated Press

Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer had planned to decide in April on whether the state should issue permits for the project. Gov. David Paterson has said he may postpone that decision.

Hale said he expects delays but is confident the terminal will be built.

"Some officials have talked about using Connecticut resources to go to court to appeal this, which I feel would be a waste of time and money, but I suspect that will happen," he said.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said he plans to ask for an immediate rehearing and will take the state's arguments to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.

He also urged Paterson to "drive a stake through this monster's heart."

"FERC's decision to approve this environmental atrocity is ill-conceived, illogical and illegal," Blumenthal said. "FERC never met an energy project it didn't like. This decision epitomizes the (Bush) administration's lawless love for Big Energy projects, no matter how dangerous or destructive."

The proposed Broadwater terminal would look like a ship and be moored to the bottom of the Sound by a tower embedded in the sea floor, allowing it to rotate in response to wind tide and current. It would be linked to the Iroquois gas pipeline.

In January, the staff of FERC concluded that the project would have no major environmental impact on the region.

The FERC staff report said potential harm to the environment from the project would be "largely limited" to the immediate vicinity of the terminal.

The report cited minimal to moderate problems that could result from the disturbance of the seabed during construction, air emissions from the vaporization of the liquefied gas, and threats of leaks from ship collisions, groundings or even terrorism.

The report included 86 recommendations for mitigating potential problems, including the creation of a 5-mile safety and security zone around the terminal where commercial and recreational activity would be banned.

Posted by Mike McKinney at 2:06 PM | Comment

Photos: The Red Sox arrive in Japan

Journal photos / Bob Breidenbach
Club president/CEO Larry Lucchino

Lucchino and relief pitcher Jonathan Papelbon

Relief pitcher Manny Delcarmen and family

TOKYO -- The Red Sox are in Japan today, and there the team will be until Wednesday, as they take their spring training and begin their season across a continent and sea.

During their visit, they'll play exhibition games against 2 Japanese teams and then, they will actually open their regular season in Japan with two games in the Tokyo Dome against the Oakland A's.

After leaving, they'll head for Los Angeles, then Oakland, Calif., to round out their 2 1/2-week trip.

Providence Journal staffers will be with them all the way, sending in their reports and photos first to projo.com via projo.com's SoxBlog. Projo.com will also cover the regular games, pitch by pitch.

Posted by Mike McDermott at 1:32 PM | Comment

8 arrested after war protest war at Guard office / Photo

Journal photo / Andrew Dickerman
Providence police Capt. David Lapatin, left, tries to convince protesters to leave the Army National Guard recruiting office on Weybosset Street, where Providence Students for a Democratic Society staged their anti-war demonstration. Students are, from left, Mael Viscarra, Cary Devlin, Joe DiFrancesco, Susan Beaty and Meliss Cha.

PROVIDENCE -- About 25 people protested the war in Iraq today in front of an Army National Guard recruiting office next to the Providence Performing Arts Center.

Eight people were arrested on what police said would likely be disorderly conduct charges following a sit-in inside the recruiting office.

The eight went without incident and were placed in police cars.

Yesterday marked the the start of the sixth year of the Iraq war and saw about 50 anti-war protesters march through Kennedy Plaza to a rally held at the State House.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney, with reports from Journal staff writer Mark Arsenault.

Posted by Mike McKinney at 1:30 PM | Comment

Group launches stop-hate campaign

PROVIDENCE -- Advocacy groups and legislators today announced a campaign against hate and hate speech in Rhode Island that will call on all Rhode Islanders to participate.

The initiative was prompted by a recent incident involving a Providence storeowner who demanded to see Social Security cards of two Spanish-speaking customers, then threatened to call immigration authorities after they did not.

State Sen. Juan Pichardo, one of the speakers today, said, “All this hate speech -- we need to stop this wave. It is not the America we pursue …”

Miguel Sanchez-Hartwein, executive director of the Center for Hispanic Policy and Advocacy, said the campaign will involve educational forums at universities, schools, businesses and other settings, and a petition that he asked all Rhode Islanders to sign.

-- Journal staff writer Karen Lee Ziner

Posted by Mike McKinney at 12:30 PM | Comment

State police arrest man on child pornography charges

The Rhode Island State Police say they have arrested an East Providence man on child pornography charges.

John J. Littlefield, 57, of 39 Breeze Ave., was arrested by detectives at about 9:30 a.m. yesterday, a police news release says. He was charged with possession of child pornography and with transmission of child pornography.

A judge set $10,000 bail at district court arraignment, the police say.

The arrest resulted from a Missouri Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force referral and through forensic analysis by members of Rhode Island's state police computer crimes unit.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Posted by Mike McKinney at 12:18 PM | Comment

Photo: Hendricken students walk to feed the poor

Journal photo/ Kathy Borchers
Bishop Hendricken High School students walk along West Shore Road in Warwick this morning to raise money for the poor through the school's hunger walk, a tradition for more than 30 years at Bishop Hendricken. Students this year hope to raise $20,000 with the seven-mile walk.

Posted by Jack Perry at 12:16 PM | Comment

Ex-CVS executives are arraigned on revised indictment

PROVIDENCE -- Two former CVS executives accused of paying off a state senator have been arraigned for a second time after federal prosecutors issued a slightly revised indictment against them.

John Kramer and Carlos Ortiz, both former vice presidents at the pharmacy company, made a brief appearance in federal court this morning.

They pleaded not guilty last year to paying former state Sen. John Celona to promote the company's legislative agenda.

They then asked a judge to dismiss a bribery charge against them, saying the indictment had vague allegations about alleged bribes paid to Celona.

Prosecutors last week brought a new indictment to make the allegations more specific.

U.S. Magistrate David Martin released both men on $10,000 unsecured bond.

-- The Associated Press

Posted by Mike McKinney at 11:24 AM | Comment

Lincoln teen pleads not guilty in fatal crash / Photo

Lincoln teenager Andrew Bessette pleaded not guilty this morning to two felony charges in connection with an October 2007 accident that killed his cousin and injured another passenger in his car.

Bessette appeared before Superior Court Magistrate William J. McAtee for about three minutes to enter his plea before being released on personal recognizance.

His eyes were wet as he left the courtroom, and he wept quietly in the elevator as he left the building.

Bessette had no comment after the proceedings, but a man who identified himself as a family member said, “it’s a tragedy, everyone is very sorry.”

Bessette is facing one charge of driving to endanger – death resulting, and one charge of driving to endanger – serious injury resulting in connection with the Oct. 15 accident.

The police say Bessette was driving home friends, including his cousin Marissa Lorea, 15, at about 2:30 p.m. when his car -- traveling around 70 mph. in a 25 mph. zone -- swerved to avoid another car.

It went off the road and struck a tree.

Lorea was killed instantly, the police said, and another passenger in the car suffered a broken neck bone.

Lorea’s father, John, attended the arraignment. He said after the proceeding that he hoped “this starts the process of bringing the person responsible to justice.”

Besides an initial statement to the police at the scene of the accident, Bessette had not discussed the case with the police, Lorea said. Lorea was upset that his daughter’s cousin appeared unwilling to accept responsibility for his actions.

Lorea said he was unmoved by Bessette’s courtroom tears.

“He’d better start weeping,” he said. “He hasn’t even started weeping.

“He doesn’t weep as much as my wife. Believe me.”

-- Journal staff writer John Hill

Bessette was 17 at the time of the crash, which happened after the General Assembly had adopted the governor’s budget proposal to save money by treating 17-year-olds as adults in criminal matters. The law was repealed in November, less than a month after the accident.

Trials for the teenagers arrested and charged with felonies as adults are pending a decision on the matter by the state's Supreme Court.

Bessette is scheduled for a pretrial hearing on May 28.

Posted by Brandie Jefferson at 10:31 AM | Comment

Big fun, little environmental impact in Cranston

The City of Cranston appreciates the value of play.

The city’s Department of Parks and Recreation will be awarded the Big Toys Playground Award today for its environmentally sensitive playground designs and development.

More than 70,000 recycled milk jugs and nearly 5,000 pounds of reclaimed scrap steel are being used in Cranston parks, many of which were renovated last year.

And 100 percent natural wood fiber is being used as a safety surfacing, making it less likely that children – and adults – in the playgrounds are exposed to chemical compounds.

The award ceremony will take place at 10 a.m. today at Cranston City Hall, in Mayor Michael Napolitano’s office on the 3rd floor.

The award is sponsored by Big Toys Inc., a company that specializes in recycled and sustainable playgrounds.

Posted by Brandie Jefferson at 9:44 AM | Comment

Rescued seal to be released this morning

Mystic Aquarium/Photo

A Harp seal with icy whiskers gets in shape for its release into the wild today.

Summer, fall, winter, or the first day of spring – Blue Shutters Beach in Charlestown is always a good place for a swim if you’re a seal.

That’s because for a seal, a trip to Blue Shutters means things are looking up. It’s the beach where Mystic Aquarium’s Institute for Exploration releases rehabilitated animals.

One such lucky animal will be released today; a harp seal that had beached itself at Briggs Beach in Little Compton last month.

The animal was thin, dehydrated, and had an elevated white blood cell count. It had been in the same spot for more than 36 hours. After being cared for at the Aquarium’s Connecticut facility, the seal is ready to return to its natural habitat.

The release is set for release at 11 a.m. at Blue Shutters Beach on East Beach Road in Charlestown.

-- projo.com staff writer Brandie M. Jefferson

Posted by Jack Perry at 7:02 AM | Comment

Spring is here

Right on cue, spring is here.

At 6:30 this morning, the temperature was already in the low 50s with rain throughout the state. It may not last, though. The temperature is expected to top off early, and then settle at about 50 degrees. The National Weather Service is also forecasting high, west winds gusting as high as 37 degrees.

Skies should clear tonight when the temperature drops to an un-spring-like 29 degrees. Winds are expected to persist and possibly reach advisory levels: sustained winds 25 to 39 mph and/or gusts to 57 mph.

Sun tomorrow with a high temperature of 44 degrees and more high, west winds, gusting as high as 44 mph.

To keep an eye on the weather, see projo.com's weather page.

Posted by Brandie Jefferson at 7:01 AM | Comment

Today's front page

Today's front page marks the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq with a story about a North Kingstown family that lost a son Army Capt. Matthew J. August in the war.

Download a copy of today's front page in .pdf format.

Posted by Jack Perry at 7:00 AM | Comment