Police Log: Scam Attempts, Mailbox and Bush Damaged

TOWED
East Greenwich Police towed a car belonging to a Newport woman on Feb. 9 after she was parked on King Street during a snow-related parking ban.

Police said an officer driving on King Street saw a 2004 Volkwagen Passat parked on the side of the road and a check of its registration showed it was expired.

When the tow truck arrived, the owner, identified by police as a 31-year-old Newport woman, came running out of a nearby coffee shop and said that her car wasn’t registered because the registry had never sent her anything stating she needed to renew it at her new address.

Police said the registry’s database showed she never notified them of her new address and the vehicle was towed by Belleville Towing. The license plates were seized and brought back to East Greenwich police headquarters.

SCAM ATTEMPT
A 61-year-old Frenchtown Road resident told police on Feb. 9 that someone used his identity to file a fraudulent tax return.

The victim became aware of the scam when he got letters on Feb. 6 from both the Internal Revenue Service and the state informing him that there were questions about his tax returns submitted without W2 forms.

The man said he’s been in touch with both agencies and is working on an identity theft case with each. Police documented the incident.

HIT AND RUN
A 48-year-old Pheasant Drive man told police on Feb. 10 that someone sideswiped his car outside of his Main Street office, breaking off a side mirror.

The incident occurred at around 5 p.m. The man said he was inside his office when he heard a loud bang. When he left his office 15 minutes later, he saw the damage.

Police are investigating.

BUSHES DAMAGED
An accident involving a town truck and an oil truck on Marlborough Street on Feb. 11 caused no damage to either vehicle, but some landscaping outside of Village on Vine did get damaged after the town vehicle had to be towed out of a snow bank with a chain.

Police said the accident happened at about noon when the town employee driving a 2009 Ford F-550 attempted to pass a Kent County OIl truck parked in front of 298 Marlborough St. and struck the oil truck’s side.

The town employee then got stuck in a snow bank. Town and oil company officials inspected each vehicle and agreed there was no damage. But when the town truck was pulled from the snow bank, a portion of the bushes belonging to Village on Vine on the east side of the building were damaged. A property manager and president of the condominium association filed a complaint for damages after being contacted by police.

CAR VANDALIZED
East Greenwich Police are investigating alleged vandalism to a Vine Street woman’s car sometime overnight on Feb. 11.

Police said a window was smashed and the side of the car was struck by a blunt object.

The woman reported the incident on Feb. 12 and said she discovered the damage when she went to her car at around at around 7:45 a.m. When she came home from work the night before at around 8 p.m., there was no damage, she said.

Police said the windshield appeared to have been damaged by a rock since there was sand and small pebbles in the impact zone.

Police are investigating.

SCAM ATTEMPT
A First Avenue man told police on Feb. 12 that he received a letter from the Internal Revenue Service notifying him they were in the process of reviewing his 2014 tax return, which was alarming because he hadn’t yet filed his taxes.

He since had contacted the IRS, which told him to file a police report, which is what brought him to police headquarters to report the incident.

WARRANT
Police charged Adam R. Hopkins, 26, of 561 Lafayette Road, North Kingstown, with a warrant Feb. 13 at 10:22.

Police said Hopkins the warrant originated from a previous arrest for simple assault and disorderly conduct in South Kingstown in December.

MAILBOX DAMAGED
A Division Street man told police on Feb. 15 that a snow plow knocked down his mailbox sometime around 4 p.m.

Police said the mailbox was broken off its stand and laying on the ground. The mailbox was valued at $200.