Man in Van Caught Smoking Crack and Masturbating in Cranston CVS Parking Lot: Police

A 54-year-old Coventry man has been charged with indecent exposure and possession of crack cocaine after he was allegedly caught masturbating in a van parked outside of a Cranston CVS by a patrolman who arrested him for a similar crime in 2008 in almost the same location.

Police arrested Robert C. Zammarelli, 54, of 60 Wright Way, Coventry, at around 5:10 p.m. after police found his van rocking back and forth in the parking lot on Ptlmn. Michael Long’s hunch that he might be in the area.

That intuition came after a suspicious vehicle report that police received about an hour earlier. Zammarelli reportedly was lying down in the third row of his Chevy Astro van. A resident asked him what he was doing and he reportedly said “watching the neighborhood” before sliding into the driver’s seat and leaving.

The van’s registration, license No. Z-16, came back with Zammarelli’s information and Long recognized the name from his 2008 arrest for masturbating in front of a 16-year-old girl in the parking lot of the Walgreens on Broad Street, which happens to be across the street from the CVS.

Long, in an unmarked patrol car, ventured to the area and quickly spotted the van in the CVS lot. He parked and watched the vehicle, which had nobody in the driver’s seat and “a blue sheet hung from the cieling of the van, separating the front seats from the rear passenger area,” according to a police report.

Police believed that Zammarelli might be in the back of the van and masturbating as he watched people go in and out of the store. Backup was dispatched Long continued to watch the van, noticing that “moved from time to time” as if someone was inside. The van would “rock slightly as people walked in the vicinity of the van,” according to the report.

After a few more minutes, police approached the van. Looking inside, they saw Zammarelli wearing a one-piece black leotard with his genitals fully exposed as he masturbated “feverishy” with the intensity of his movements causing the van to move, according to the report.

Police announced their presence and had Zammarelli get dressed. Inside the van, officers saw numerous tools and found several copper pipes cut and shaped to be used as smoking pipes. Police also smelled burnt crack cocaine and soon found a rock of crack that later weighed 4.8 grams.

Officers also found a large quantity of women’s underwear in the van. Police believe that Zammarelli, who might have been doing construction work, “likely had access to people’s houses and personal items,” according to the report.

Police are also concerned that Zammarelli might have had unlawful sexual contact with people in the past and are continuing to investigate.

Zammarelli’s contractor license expired in 2013, according to the state Contractor’s Registration and Licensing Board.

Cranston Police Acting Capt. Russell Henry Jr. said that the arrest is thanks to members of the public who remain vigiliant and paying attenton to their streets.

“We want to thank the public for looking out and being wise to know what does and doesn’t belong on our street and pointing it out to us,” Henry said in reference to the Smith Street residents who saw the van and thought it was suspcious, setting in motion the chain of events for police to make the arrest.

Henry also credited Long for his skilled policework, which led police to Zammarelli’s van shortly after the first report.

In the 2008 incident, Zammarelli was arrested after he allegedly masturbated in full view of a girl who waited in the passenger seat of a car as her mother shopped inside Walgreens.

According to the Nov. 23, 2008 police report, the parents of the girl said that he “was looking right at her” during the act. He then backed out of the parking spot, circled the building, parked next to the girl again and then finally left when her mother exited the store.

After his arrest in 2008, Zammarelli, under questioning, said that he was doing some remodeling work on Potters Street in Cranston and went to Walgreens to get a soda when he “got the urge” and since his divorce, “he has been lonely and full of anxiety.”

He pleaded no contest to a charge of disorderly conduct and was sentenced to 90 days at the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston. He also received a nine-month suspended sentence, nine month of probation and ordered to obtain counseling.

On the new charges, Zammarelli was arraigned and released on $2,000 surety bail. He is due to return to court on Dec. 15 for a prearraignment disposition conference.

Photo courtesy: Cranston Police Department