Three arrested at Cromwell Court in Hyannis
HYANNIS - Wednesday evening, Barnstable Narcotics Detectives and SCU members served another drug related search warrant in the Cromwell Court apartment complex located at 168 Barnstable Road in Hyannis. This is the second drug related search warrant conducted in less than a week.Last Friday, BPD Narcotics Detectives arrested Prince Wright, 35, (left) for Possession of Cocaine and Heroin W/Intent to Distribute after serving a search warrant at his apartment located in building 5. BPD Narcotics Detectives have been focusing on the complex as the result of several complaints by residents of overt drug trafficking in several of the buildings as well as in the parking lot.
The most recent investigation involved a series of undercover cocaine purchases from Jason Mello, 25, (center). Following those purchases, Det Brian Guiney obtained a search warrant for apartment 10B. Mello was residing at and utilizing the apartment to distribute cocaine and heroin from. The apartment belongs to his father Domingo Mello, 70, (right).
At approximately 9 p.m. Wednesday evening, Detectives and SCU Officers served the search warrant after observing J. Mello conduct what appeared to be a drug transaction in the parking lot outside the apartment. Detectives subsequently located numerous baggies of suspected Heroin and Marijuana as well as plastic baggies, digital scales, approximately $5000 in cash, and a loaded .22 caliber pistol. The pistol was hidden in one of Jason Mello’s sneakers in the apartment. A “stun gun” was located in Domingo Mello’s bedroom.
Both men were arrested and transported to the BPD for processing. Jason Mello was charged with Possession of Heroin W/Intent to Distribute, Possession of Marijuana W/Intent to Distribute, Unlawful Possession of a Firearm and Ammunition. Domingo Mello was charged with Unlawful Possession of a Stun Gun. Both suspects were arraigned in Barnstable District Court Thursday morning.
Media release and mugshots furnished by Barnstable Police
Van vs pole in Sandwich
SANDWICH - About 1:30 p.m., this van struck a utility pole on Route 130 near the Forestdale School in Sandwich. The driver was taken to Cape Cod Hospital with unknown injuries. NSTAR crews responded to cut power as wires were draped across the vehicle. Crews remained on scene to replace the pole. The crash is under investigation by Sandwich Police
Photo and video by CWN associate Andrew Jones
CWN Storm Team Coverage:
5:00 p.m. update: NStar hs only a few isolated outages still going. Highest wind gust reported was 62 MPH.
9:00 a.m. update: Dennis firefighters called to 22 Brooksweld Lane. A small fire on the outside of the home was out on arrival. NSTAR and an electrical inspector were called to the scene. Elsewhere, DPW crews were called to remove a tree from Stonybrook Road in Brewster. NSTAR working scattered outages across the Cape. Highest winds seemed to have peaked, but west to northwest winds are epected to gust to 50 MPH today as cold air rushes in behind the front.
8:00 a.m. update: A 16-year-old high school girl who was attempting to get on her school bus was struck by a car this morning in Centerville. Barnstable Police Sgt. Sean Sweeney tells WXTK it happened on Old Stage Road near Patriot Way. The girl was tossed up and over the car. She was taken to Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence, RI with a possible broken leg and bumps and bruises. Barsntable Police are investigating and cited the driver, 81-year-old John Mullaly of Centerville for operating to endanger and violating school bus laws. Meanwhile a power line came down on a school bus in the 1000 block of County Road in Bourne. The driver and lone student were not injured but had to wait for NSTAR to arrive to cut the power. 60 MPH wind gust in Barnstable.
9:00 a.m. update: Dennis firefighters called to 22 Brooksweld Lane. A small fire on the outside of the home was out on arrival. NSTAR and an electrical inspector were called to the scene. Elsewhere, DPW crews were called to remove a tree from Stonybrook Road in Brewster. NSTAR working scattered outages across the Cape. Highest winds seemed to have peaked, but west to northwest winds are epected to gust to 50 MPH today as cold air rushes in behind the front.
8:00 a.m. update: A 16-year-old high school girl who was attempting to get on her school bus was struck by a car this morning in Centerville. Barnstable Police Sgt. Sean Sweeney tells WXTK it happened on Old Stage Road near Patriot Way. The girl was tossed up and over the car. She was taken to Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence, RI with a possible broken leg and bumps and bruises. Barsntable Police are investigating and cited the driver, 81-year-old John Mullaly of Centerville for operating to endanger and violating school bus laws. Meanwhile a power line came down on a school bus in the 1000 block of County Road in Bourne. The driver and lone student were not injured but had to wait for NSTAR to arrive to cut the power. 60 MPH wind gust in Barnstable.
5:30 a.m. update: Damaging winds are still expected with the passage of a cold front this morning. A couple of scattered power outages were reported during the wee hours on the upper Cape. Highest wind gust so far is 54 MPH in Barnstable
Driver critically injured in Mashpee crash
MASHPEE - One person was critically injured in a crash in Mashpee shortly before 7:30 p.m. The crash happened on Great Neck Road near Zachary's Pub when the vehicle went out of control and down an embankment. Firefighters had to stablize the vehicle and extricate the driver using the Jaws of Life. The victim was then rushed to Cape Cod Hospital. Mashpee Police are investigating the crash.
Dennis gas station robbed
Detectives outside the Hess gas station in Dennisport which was robbed Wednesday evening.
DENNISPORT - Dennis Police report that at approximately 8:37 pm Wednesday evening, they responded to the Hess Express gas station and convenience store at 505 Route 28 for a report of an armed robbery that had just occurred.
Upon arrival officers determined that a male, disguised in dark clothing and with his face concealed, brandished a knife and fled after taking an undetermined amount of cash from the store. No injuries were reported.
During a search of the area police located several pieces of evidence which are being processed.
Dennis Police are asking anyone with information to please call Detective Patrick McCaffrey at 774-352-1519 or the Dennis Police Tip Line at 774-352-1500.
Dennis Police are being assisted by the Harwich Police Department and the Barnstable County Sheriff’s Office Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
Media release furnished by Dennis Police; photo by Kevin Morley/CWN
Inmate culinary arts program in full swing
Michael Otto, right, executive chef at Pocasset Golf Club by way of Johnson & Wales University, shows inmate Noah Pond a thing or two about preparing a chicken. Otto is one of two culinary arts instructors at Cape Cod Community College who have brought the course “on the road” to the county jail in Bourne.
BOURNE - A baker’s dozen of Barnstable County Sheriff’s inmates hope to do just that -- bake, maybe even chop and fricassee -- their way into the restaurant or food service industry by the time they wrap up their sentence.
To do it, they’re busy taking culinary arts classes in the same institutionally equipped kitchen that prepares some 1,200 meals every day to fellow inmates at the Barnstable County Correctional Facility.
“I’m enjoying it,” says inmate Noah Pond, 39, whose sentence for larceny and motor vehicle violations ends in August. Pond has already picked up some rudimentary cooking skills working in the inmate kitchen and hopes to parley the “finer points” he’s learning now into gainful employment. The classes began in early November.
The 12 credits Pond receives upon course completion will leave him just six shy of a hospitality certificate. Securing that, he says, could mean landing a job further up the ladder than “just washing pots and pans” -- and with credentials to advance even more.
“So far, so good,” agrees Michael Otto, the instructor for this mid-January evening’s class. “It’s remarkable how motivated they are. They ask a ton of questions. I’m sure at least some will leave with a skill set that can advance them into a working job.”
Otto, who teaches similar courses at Cape Cod Community College, says the inmates have already received something called “Safe-Serve” certification. “They passed that test with flying colors,” he explains. The certification, overseen by a national industry trade group, is a necessary first step for those who do their job hunting wherever food and beverages are served.
The 26 scheduled class sessions, meanwhile, are part of a new program at the prison -- one funded by a $350,000 grant from federal Department of Justice. The college is collaborating in the initiative and Otto notes that he teaches the same material at both locations.
Otto offers similar tips to inmate Gregory Wallen, right, while inmate William Kophammer keeps busy in like manner. These knives, incidentally, are tethered securely to stainless steel tables – it being a prison kitchen after all.
Things like sandwich making, salad preparation, and baking rolls and pastries from scratch have been covered thus far and there are 14 sessions still to go, according to Otto, who is also executive chef at Pocasset Golf Club. He has a bachelors degree in culinary arts from Johnson & Wales, a Rhode Island college immersed in the restaurant and food service industries.
The year-long grant is part of the five-year-old Second Chance Act, which utilizes evidence-based data in the fight to reduce recidivism. From the Act’s deluge of penal statistics, meanwhile, two stand out: Millions of people cycle through jails like Barnstable County’s every year and 95% of them will be released and return to the streets.
“That,” concludes Sheriff James Cummings, “is what we’re up against. This new initiative, like our GED program and other jail offerings, is based on the premise that job skills are the antidote to recidivism.
“No, it doesn’t ensure a job, not to anyone. But it does offer a fighting chance, the more so when you consider how ubiquitous restaurants and food services are on the Cape.”
Media release and photos furnished by Barnstable Sheriff's Office
Inmates erase grafitti in Barnstable
BARNSTABLE - Barnstable County Sheriff’s inmate Lorenza Balbuena appears to be watering the street, but looks can be deceiving. Instead, he’s using this hose and nozzle to blast away what is literally street graffiti on Fresh Holes Road in Hyannis. The graffiti-dissolving apparatus was employed in the same neighborhood on houses, a wooden fence, and a large portable dumpster. [Keep scrolling down]
Next stop for Balbuena, three other inmates, and their crew-supervising deputy: This building formerly occupied by Khouri’s Oriental Rug on West Barnstable Road. Additional inmate security at the site, located between the Hyannis rotary and Barnstable High, was provided by a patrolman with the Barnstable Street Crimes Unit. The graffiti seen here, on the backside of the now vacant building, was wiped clean before the crew wrapped up their day’s work and returned, per usual, to the Barnstable County Correctional Facility in Bourne. They erased graffiti at six sites in all this time out.
To do it, they’re busy taking culinary arts classes in the same institutionally equipped kitchen that prepares some 1,200 meals every day to fellow inmates at the Barnstable County Correctional Facility.
“I’m enjoying it,” says inmate Noah Pond, 39, whose sentence for larceny and motor vehicle violations ends in August. Pond has already picked up some rudimentary cooking skills working in the inmate kitchen and hopes to parley the “finer points” he’s learning now into gainful employment. The classes began in early November.
The 12 credits Pond receives upon course completion will leave him just six shy of a hospitality certificate. Securing that, he says, could mean landing a job further up the ladder than “just washing pots and pans” -- and with credentials to advance even more.
“So far, so good,” agrees Michael Otto, the instructor for this mid-January evening’s class. “It’s remarkable how motivated they are. They ask a ton of questions. I’m sure at least some will leave with a skill set that can advance them into a working job.”
Otto, who teaches similar courses at Cape Cod Community College, says the inmates have already received something called “Safe-Serve” certification. “They passed that test with flying colors,” he explains. The certification, overseen by a national industry trade group, is a necessary first step for those who do their job hunting wherever food and beverages are served.
The 26 scheduled class sessions, meanwhile, are part of a new program at the prison -- one funded by a $350,000 grant from federal Department of Justice. The college is collaborating in the initiative and Otto notes that he teaches the same material at both locations.
Otto offers similar tips to inmate Gregory Wallen, right, while inmate William Kophammer keeps busy in like manner. These knives, incidentally, are tethered securely to stainless steel tables – it being a prison kitchen after all.
Things like sandwich making, salad preparation, and baking rolls and pastries from scratch have been covered thus far and there are 14 sessions still to go, according to Otto, who is also executive chef at Pocasset Golf Club. He has a bachelors degree in culinary arts from Johnson & Wales, a Rhode Island college immersed in the restaurant and food service industries.
The year-long grant is part of the five-year-old Second Chance Act, which utilizes evidence-based data in the fight to reduce recidivism. From the Act’s deluge of penal statistics, meanwhile, two stand out: Millions of people cycle through jails like Barnstable County’s every year and 95% of them will be released and return to the streets.
“That,” concludes Sheriff James Cummings, “is what we’re up against. This new initiative, like our GED program and other jail offerings, is based on the premise that job skills are the antidote to recidivism.
“No, it doesn’t ensure a job, not to anyone. But it does offer a fighting chance, the more so when you consider how ubiquitous restaurants and food services are on the Cape.”
Media release and photos furnished by Barnstable Sheriff's Office
Inmates erase grafitti in Barnstable
BARNSTABLE - Barnstable County Sheriff’s inmate Lorenza Balbuena appears to be watering the street, but looks can be deceiving. Instead, he’s using this hose and nozzle to blast away what is literally street graffiti on Fresh Holes Road in Hyannis. The graffiti-dissolving apparatus was employed in the same neighborhood on houses, a wooden fence, and a large portable dumpster. [Keep scrolling down]
Next stop for Balbuena, three other inmates, and their crew-supervising deputy: This building formerly occupied by Khouri’s Oriental Rug on West Barnstable Road. Additional inmate security at the site, located between the Hyannis rotary and Barnstable High, was provided by a patrolman with the Barnstable Street Crimes Unit. The graffiti seen here, on the backside of the now vacant building, was wiped clean before the crew wrapped up their day’s work and returned, per usual, to the Barnstable County Correctional Facility in Bourne. They erased graffiti at six sites in all this time out.
This final bit of deviant (not to mention criminal) artwork got scrubbed as well. It’s also near Khouri Rug’s back entrance. Barnstable Police Chief Paul MacDonald and county Sheriff James Cummings are of a like mind when it comes to vigorous engagement on this front. Says the Sheriff: “The defacement of property is a serious crime and that’s how I regard it.” He even keeps track of costs so his Office can produce a bill should an offender be caught and restitution ordered.
Looking at the bigger picture, the 2012 calendar stats are in and it was another record year for the inmate work crews. They expended 23,024 man hours of labor, with a market-wage value of $575,600 (the most ever, both categories). An additional $109,000 was saved by municipal and non-profit agencies who were provided a free tent for charitable fundraising – along with inmates to erect and dismantle it. And the 105 projects tackled landed the crews in every Cape town at least once. Most received multiple visits.
Media release and photos furnished by Barnstable Sheriff's Office
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