Police Log: Costly Phone Scam, Discarded Pot Plants

Monday, Nov. 11

10:57 a.m. – A construction worker at 1000 Division Street flagged down police after finding what appeared to be discarded marijuana plants behind a small building near the construction zone. Police seized the plants and disposed of the stalks, which filled three trash bags and a tarp, retaining a small amount for testing at the station. It tested positive for marijuana.

Tuesday, Nov. 12

12:16 a.m. – An East Greenwich woman told police she was hit in the face by a man she’d been hanging out with at an apartment on Duke Street. The man told police he had not been with the woman at all that night. Both parties appeared to have been drinking. When police later went to Kent Hospital to get a statement from the woman, she said she didn’t want to press charges.

Wednesday, Nov. 13

9:11 a.m. – An employee of Seacast, a company on South County Trail, told police a man and a woman were seen taking scrap metal from one of their dumpsters. He estimated 6,000 pounds of scrap metal had been stolen, at a value of $600. He gave police a photo of the suspects’ vehicle as well as the plate number. The man, from Providence, admitted taking scrap metal with his girlfriend. He said he didn’t remember how much money he got for the metal and claimed he took it because he assumed it was free for the taking since it was in a dumpster. Police told the Providence man to return to Seacast and make restitution with the owner.

11:30 a.m. – One of the owners of Cathay Garden told police about a telephone scam costing them $1,228.71. The restaurant got a phone call Tuesday from someone saying they were with National Grid and that they hadn’t received this month’s payment. He threatened to shut off the restaurant’s electricity if a payment of $1,228.71 wasn’t paid immediately using money orders, specifically green dot money orders (not gold dot). Police researched the phone number used by the caller and found several posts describing the same phone number as involved in a number of utility company scams.

Thursday, Nov. 14

12:44 p.m. – A High Hawk resident told police his 11-year-old black  Labrador Retriever had been in a scrap with a fox and that the fox as one point ran into the front yard and attacked a Providence man who was working on the house there. The Providence man told police the fox had grabbed his pant leg but had not bitten him. The fox had run away in a northerly direction. The animal control officer told the High Hawk resident to get his dog a rabies booster shot as a precaution.

Police arrested a 16-year-old EGHS student for having a Swiss Army-type knife with him at school.