Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

By Donita Naylor
Journal Staff Writer

The state Ethics Commission received so many inquiries Wednesday about whether a newly elected Hopkinton Town Councilman could continue serving on the Chariho School Committee that, by 3 p.m., the receptionist knew exactly where to direct a caller as soon as she heard the word "Chariho".

Steven Cross, the commission's chief of investigations, said he had been telling callers all day that the issue was not one for his agency.
"We don't believe there was any violation of the ethics code," Cross said.

Bill Felkner of Ashaway, who has served on the School Committee since 2006 and whose term expires in 2010, was elected to the Hopkinton council on Nov. 4 and sworn in on Monday. He said he asked both the state Board of Elections and the Ethics Commission if he could hold both seats and was told -- unofficially --that he could hold both as long as he didn't vote on school issues for the town or town issues for the school committee.

He said he didn't get the packet of meeting documents that is routinely delivered to members of the School Committee on the Friday before a Tuesday session, he said.
When he arrived at the Chariho Middle School on Tuesday for the 6:30 p.m. closed session that was to precede the 7 p.m. public meeting, he still did not have a packet and there was no name card marking his place at the table.

He sat down anyway.

The meeting opened at 6:30 with the Chariho Regional School District lawyer, Jon M. Anderson, being invited to speak. He delivered the opinion that Felkner was no longer a member of the School Committee.

William Day, a Richmond member who was still chairman of the School Committee until his successor was elected about an hour later, said he was satisfied with that opinion and refused to acknowledge Felkner as anything but a member of the public. He did not allow Felkner to comment and instructed the clerk not to count his vote.

A recess was called while Day called the Police Department and requested that an office be sent to the meeting room. After the patrolman arrived, committee members walked into a separate room for the closed session, Felkner among them.

The officer, Patrolman Dan Kelley, stood politely as the members filed past.

In a few minutes, they all came out again and took their seats. Day again invited Anderson to speak.

The lawyer told Felkner that he had effectively given up his board seat when he was sworn in as a Hopkinton councilman the day before.

Day polled the committee members on whether Felkner should be removed from the meeting. With Felkner's vote not counted and Terri Serra abstaining, the vote was 5 to 4, and Day asked Patrolman Kelley to remove Felkner.

Felkner said as he stood to leave: "I want to make sure everybody understands that this is under protest."

Supt. Barry Ricci said Wednesday that it seemed obvious, logical and "just kind of common sense" that when Felkner was elected to the Town Council he would give up his school seat. The school board's lawyer, Ricci noted, pointed out that Barack Obana resigned from the Senate once he was elected president.

Hopkinton Town Manager William DiLibero said Wednesday that Town Solicitor Patricia Buckley would not issue an opinion unless asked asked to do so by the Town Council. The next regular council meeting is Dec 1.

Superintendent Ricci said he hoped "that the adults will find a way to solve any problems so that the focus will be on the education of the children of Chariho."

WASHINGTON -- President Bush has invited Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, Sen Edward M. Kennedy and two of their Republican colleagues to the White House tomorrow to commemorate their work to enact landmark legislation for the mentally ill.

Accompanying the two Kennedys will be Sen. Pete V. Domenici, R.-N.M., and Rep. Jim Ramstad, R-Minn., their partners in the campaign for a new law that will put mental health insurance on a par with coverage of physical ailments.

The mental health parity bill passed both houses of Congress as an attachment to the $700-billion Wall Street rescue package that the president signed into law.

Enactment of the mental health bill -- the result of years of negotiations among medical, business and mental health lobbies -- was thus overshadowed by the drama surrounding the bailout bill.

Patrick Kennedy's office said tonight that the White House had finalized preparations for the legislators' meeting with the president. Only the four principal sponsors of the parity bill have been invited.

The event, perhaps one of Mr. Bush's last as president with members of Congress, may have a poignant element. Domenici, a longtime mental health champion who has a grown daughter with schizophrenia, is retiring at the end of this congressional term. Mr. Bush first publicly endorsed mental health parity while campaigning for Domenici during that senator's last re-election six years ago.

Senator Kennedy, one of the nation's leaders on health-care policy, has only recently returned to work after months of treatment for brain cancer.

Ramstad and Patrick Kennedy have both been supporters of mental health parity for years, but their advocacy for the cause has intensified since Ramstad, a recovering alcoholic, reached out to help the younger Kennedy battle his own addiction to alcohol and prescription drugs.

Ramstad is also retiring from Congress in several weeks.
-- John Mulligan, Journal Washington Bureau

A man suspected in a string of thefts in three communities is being held without bail as the police complete investigations that stretch from Cranston to Warwick to North Kingstown.

Jason Bruno, 38, whose last known address was in Warwick, faces charges in a series of thefts in buildings, boats and at least one car, authorities said today.

He was arrested in Cranston on Nov. 8 on charges that he broke into several boats at the Port Edgewood Marina and the Rhode Island Yacht Club, and he has since been charged with multiple counts of breaking and entering in North Kingstown and one count of larceny in Warwick.

His arrest helped the Cranston police in another case, one involving two incidents of breaking and entering at a condominium complex on Hoffman Avenue, said Maj. Ronald T. Blackmar. The suspect broke into the basement of the complex, rummaged through 19 storage areas and used a small kitchen area to make dinner, helping himself to, among other things, some Barilla bow-tie pasta, the police said.

Police detectives lifted a fingerprint from the pasta box, but they could not trace it to anyone until they arrested Bruno and discovered they had a match, Blackmar said.

In the Cranston incidents, Bruno is charged with larceny over $500 and receiving stolen goods over $500, breaking and entering, vandalism and resisting arrest, said Blackmar and Michael J. Healey, a spokesman for the attorney general's office.

In the North Kingstown incidents, he faces multiple counts of breaking and entering into a building at night, one count of larceny over $500 and multiple counts of vandalism, according to court records.

In the Warwick case he is charged with larceny over $500, for allegedly stealing a laptop computer and a GPS system from a motor vehicle, Healey said.

Bruno is being held a as a probation violator because he pleaded no contest earlier this year to unlawful appropriation over $1,000. He received a three-year suspended sentence and four years probation in that case and also had to pay back the victim, Healey said.

Bruno has scheduled violation hearings for Nov. 25 in Kent County Superior Court and Dec. 1 in Washington County Superior Court, Healey said. If deemed to be a violator, the attorney general's office can ask that he serve up to the three years he received as a suspended sentence, Healey said.

Bruno also has a prearraignment hearing scheduled for Jan. 9 in Providence County Superior Court.

-- Journal staff writer Randal Edgar

PROVIDENCE -- A Coventry woman today pleaded guilty in federal court to making fraudulent checks on a computer and shipping other such checks -- her role in what prosecutors say was an international scheme that tried to get check recipients to wire real money.

Nancy Alexander, 66, of Victory Highway pleaded to one count of mail fraud involving about $1.7 million in counterfeit checks and money orders, admitting she made fraudulent checks and forwarded others that had been shipped to her from Nigeria, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente's office.

Maximum penalty is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Alexander is free on bond pending a scheduled April 3 sentencing hearing.

Prosecutor Lee H. Vilker said at the plea hearing the government could show that those behind the scheme provided Alexander with information to create and mail counterfeit checks, including payee names and addresses, check amounts, and counterfeit shipping labels. Alexander created on her home computer about 291 counterfeit checks, "totaling $1.6 million in purported value," and shipped them to intended victims throughout the United States, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

Unknown people contacted the victims to try to persuade them to deposit the counterfeit checks and wire some of the "purported value" to another account, the news release says.

According to a Secret Service affidavit in the criminal complaint against Alexander in July, agents intercepted a parcel in April addressed to Alexander that held 119 counterfeit checks and money orders, the U.S. Attorney's office said. The parcel originated in Nigeria and had been shipped through France.

Agents found that victims and intended victims were approached in several ways. For instance, one was approached after she posted a resume online; another had advertised a pool heater for sale in a local newspaper; and, another had been seeking a work-from-home job. All were asked to cash checks of various amounts, keep some of the money and wire the balance to other accounts.

All the checks turned out to be counterfeit and victims lost money they had wired back -- ranging from $2,000 to $5,000. Other targets either waited for the checks to clear -- which they did not -- or did not respond at all.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

The City of Newport has closed the Cliff Walk from Ruggles Avenue to Marine Avenue, starting today, to facilitate repairs.

The city says the area will reopen Nov. 24. Pedestrians on the Cliff Walk will be detoured down Wetmore during construction.

PROVIDENCE -- A 73-year-old pharmacist who has co-owned a Providence drug store pleaded guilty in federal court today to misbranding drugs, illegally distributing controlled substances, and health-care fraud.

Carmine DeTomasis, a pharmacist who was co-owner of Prime Drug on Cranston Street, admitted in U.S. District Court in Providence to illegally buying prescription drugs from Louis Romanelli and illegally selling pharmaceuticals to Romanelli, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente's office.

DeTomasis also admitted he submitted false reimbursement claims to health-insurance carriers for prescription drugs the store had not dispensed.

Projo.com reported in May that the state Department of Health shut down the pharmacy.

Romanelli, 81, of Providence, has pleaded guilty to his role in the drug-distribution conspiracy and awaits sentencing.

At DeTomasis' plea hearing today, prosecutor Adi Goldstein said the government could show that several times this year Romanelli went to Prime Drug, often after business hours, and sold DeTomasis prescription medications -- often those used to treat HIV/AIDS.

An undercover agent got prescription medications from another pharmacy and sold them to Romanelli, the U.S. Attorney's office said. Romanelli also got controlled substances such as hydrocodone from DeTomasis at Prime Drug.

>> Continue reading: Providence pharmacist pleads guilty to fraud charges

Journal photo / Steve Szydlowski
Investigators place some of their findings into evidence bags after turning up what they believe are the remains of mob hit victim Joseoh "Joe Onions" Scanlon in an East Providence yard this afternoon.

EAST PROVIDENCE -- Investigators digging for the victim of a mob hit 30 years ago found a boot, bones and what appears to be a jacket this afternoon. They feel confident they've turned up the remains of the reputed mob associate-turned police informant.

"We have strong reason to believe that this is the body of Joe 'Onions' Scanlon," state police Col. Brendan Doherty said at an impromptu news conference at the scene of the search.

A pathologist from the Office of State Medical Examiners will determine whether they are indeed Scanlon's remains.

After turning up a boot at 2:18 p.m., digging stopped in the yard of the Lisboa Apartments complex in the city's Riverside section where backhoes have been been at work since Monday.

A white sheet was spread out, and blue-gloved investigators from the state Medical Examiners Office and Rhode Island State Police were using it to sift through dirt pulled up in the same scoop that revealed the footwear. A picnic bench was put into service to hold evidence, as well as the usual evidence bags.

Handshakes were given all around, including to the backhoe operator, and the deep holes on the property were being filled up by 3 p.m. today.

The investigators hit pay dirt about 30 feet straight back from the rear door of the apartment complex, near a stockade fence.

Investigators have been digging with backhoes in the area near the East Bay Bicycle Path since Monday, the day law enforcement agents netted close to two dozen on racketeering and other criminal charges.

Investigators had remained certain they will find what they are looking for.

On Monday morning, Nicholas "Nicky" Pari, 71, of North Providence, one of two men convicted of killing Scanlon, accompanied state police detectives to Riverside and showed them the area where he buried the body. The state police dog also detected a scent of human remains.

Journal file photo
Joseph P. "Joe Onions" Scanlon, in 1978

According to testimony at the trial of Nicholas Pari and Andy Merola, Scanlon was wearing dungarees, a windbreaker and brown shoe boots when he was shot.

Pari was among those, including mob hitman Gerald "Gerry" Tillinghast, arrested in a large-scale racketeering, drug peddling and stolen goods ring that the authorities allege operated out of a flea market on Valley Street in Providence.

Former R.I. Attorney General Dennis J. Roberts II had agreed to reduce first-degree charges against Merola and Pari in 1982 after Pari told prosecutors that Scanlon's body had been dumped in the ocean off Narragansett.

Today, Robert said he is very surprised that the police found Scanlon's body buried in East Providence. "I've been duped. What can I tell you? It was a bizarre case. I really had thought that they took this guy way out in Block Island Sound and dumped him overboard. The tide wouldn't wash him in. I figured he'd be out there with Captain Kidd forever."

Journal photo / Bill Murphy
Digging today produced a hole that looks more like a trench, as excavators moved closer to the apartment complex at 378 Bullocks Point Ave. in their third -- and last -- day of the search. Watch video of their efforts today.

-- With reports from Journal staff writers W. Zachary Malinowski and Tracy Breton

By Randal Edgar
Journal staff writer

WARWICK -- A convenience store on Greenwich Avenue today became latest business to be robbed by a man claiming to have a gun, the police said.

The suspect entered the Greenwich Avenue Shell store at about 2:30 a.m., told the clerk he had a gun under his sweatshirt and asked for the all the money, said Police Lt. Michael Higgins.

After taking the money, the suspect walked in a southerly direction away from the store and got into a car on Chapmans Avenue, driving away with the headlights off, Higgins said.

Higgins described the suspect as a white male, about 5-feet-6 to 5-feet-10 inches tall, in his mid-to-late 20s.

A day earlier, a man said to be in his 50s robbed the Dunkin' Donuts coffee shop at 860 Post Road. And the day before that, a man said to have been in his 50s robbed the Dunkin' Donuts on Jefferson Boulevard.

Higgins said the police are investigating the robberies and don't know if they are related.

PROVIDENCE -- A bit nippy today? Well, brace yourself for tonight!

Temperatures are predicted to fall into the mid- to upper-20s, said Charles Foley, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Taunton, Mass. And that's reason to celebrate (no, really!). This morning, the National Weather Service predicted tonight's low would be 19 degrees.

The normal low temperature for this time of year is around 35 degrees, Foley said. We are expected to remain below average for at least the next five days.

However cold it feels (and it does!), we are still well above the record low, set in 1936 at 15 degrees.

And, yes, chances are we'll see some flurries tomorrow morning. Don't worry, you won't need to plow your driveway, but you may want to remember to put on the heavy coat and make sure your kids bundle up -- add an extra pair of mittens for the prone-to-lose-everything.

Forum: Tell us how you're dealing with heating bills, gas prices, electricity and other utilities in these tough economic times.

Journal photo / Kathy Borchers
Gilbert Delestre, center, sits with his defense lawyer, Robert Mann, today in Providence County Superior Court.

PROVIDENCE -- The murder trial of Gilbert Delestre, who is accused of beating to death 3-year-old Thomas J. Wright in Woonsocket four years ago, began today with a rescue worker testifying the child was so bruised "he appeared like he had been in a boxing match."

Delestre is charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

Prosecutor Stacey Veroni said in opening statements in Providence County Superior Court that Delestre and his then-girlfriend, Katherine Bunnell -- the boy's aunt -- beat him severely when they returned to their apartment on Oct. 30, 2004, from a night out. The boy died on oct. 31.

Lt. Edward Bertholic, the Woonsocket Fire Department rescue worker, testified that when he got to the Diamond Hill Road apartment, a fire engine was already there and workers brought the child to his rescue truck.

Bertholic said the boy had facial bruising and swelling and his left arm and legs were bruised and looked like they might be broken.

Bertholic took the boy to Landmark Medical Center in Woonsocket and then to Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence. During his time with the child, the boy never gained consciousness.

Veroni told the jury that Delestre and Bunnell tried to blame the babysitter, Kayla Roderick, who was watching the boy while the couple was out. Veroni mentioned that the night of the beating, the babysitter said she turned to see Delestre in the apartment with his arms extended and the boy flying through the air. She said the boy landed with his left leg under his stomach, according to the prosecution.

Bunnell, who is T.J.'s aunt, and Delestre were caring for T.J., his two brothers and the couple's own two girls. T.J.'s mother, Karen Wright, was serving time in an Illinois prison for marijuana trafficking.

In his opening statement today, Robert Mann, Delestre's defense lawyers, told the jury that Delestre admitted that he had hit the boy, that the boy fell down stairs and was badly hurt as a result. But Mann said Delestre denied that he threw the boy across the room and denied that he intended to kill him.

Mann asked the jury to acquit Delestre of murder and conspiracy to commit murder and suggested they convict him instead of manslaughter.

Bunnell has been convicted of second-degree murder and conspiracy. She was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney, with reports from Journal staff writer Tatiana Pina and The Associated Press

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- A lawyer for a man charged with fatally beating his girlfriend's 3-year-old nephew says his client will admit that he struck the child hard enough for him to fall down a staircase, but did not intend to kill him.

Attorney Robert Mann told jurors in opening statements today that Gilbert Delestre knows he was wrong and wants to take responsibility for his actions. Mann asked jurors to acquit his client of murder and conspiracy to commit murder and suggested they convict him instead of manslaughter.

Delestre faces one count of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

Prosecutors say that Delestre and his then-girlfriend, Katherine Bunnell, beat her nephew, Thomas, to death four years ago after they returned to their Woonsocket apartment from a night out and found yogurt and milk he had spilled on the living room floor.

Delestre and Bunnell were caring for Thomas and his two brothers in addition to their own two children while Bunnell's sister, Karen Wright, served a prison term in Illinois for marijuana trafficking.

Delestre and Bunnell were given separate trials because they each accused the other of inflicting the injuries that killed Thomas.

Bunnell, who was charged with murder and conspiracy, was convicted of second-degree murder and conspiracy. She was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole.

-- With Journal archival reports

By Gregory Smith
Journal staff writer

PROVIDENCE -- The director of building maintenance at the Providence Public Safety Complex has been charged with two crimes in connection with the theft of a portable police radio, according to the police.

Robin Evans is charged with larceny over $500 and wrongful conversion, which is an embezzlement-related crime. Both charges are felonies.

He was arraigned in District Court yesterday before Judge Michael A. Higgins, who released him on $10,000 personal recognizance pending further court action.

Evans is suspended from his job pending resolution of the charges.

By Katie Mulvaney
Journal staff writer

A federal appeals panel today upheld a lower court ruling in finding that the Nazis had, in effect, stolen a painting from a Jewish art collector 50 years ago.

The decision by a three judges from the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that the artwork, Girl from the Sabiner Mountains, had been robbed from collector Max Stern when the Nazis forced him to liquidate his inventory in a forced sale in the 1930s.

"A de facto confiscation of a work of art that arose out of a notorious exercise of man's inhumanity to man now ends with the righting of that wrong through the mundane application of common-law principles," Judge Bruce M. Selya wrote. "The mills of justice grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine."

The painting had hung in German Baroness Maria-Luise Bissonnette's Park Row West apartment. Bissonette's stepfather bought it at the Lempertz Auction House in Cologne, Germany, in November 1937. Bissonnette had appealed the lower court ruling.

The case was initially filed in federal court in Rhode Island, where Bissonnette had moved in 1991. Her putting the painting on the market in 2003 led to the discovery of its whereabouts, failed negotiations over its return, and the resulting court action.

Read the appeals court ruling issued today.

SMITHFIELD -- The wreckage of a single-engine plane that crashed Monday afternoon near North Central State Airport in Smithfield is expected to be towed to a salvage yard this afternoon, investigators said.

James J. Warcup, an aeronautics inspector for the Rhode Island Airport Corporation, said investigators will retain control over the plane's engine, which is yet to be disassembled as part of the investigation. The rest of the plane has already been inspected, he said.

The engine will be moved to a hangar at North Central State Airport.

Typically, Warcup said, the Rhode Island Airport Corporation releases the planes to the insurance companies after the wreckage is examined.

The pilot and passenger -- Robert A. Zoglio Jr., 43, of Richmond, and Ronald Tetreault, 64, of Glocester, respectively -- died in the crash. Both were experienced pilots.

Zoglio's single-engine Piper took off from T.F. Green Airport in Warwick, where it was based, to do a practice approach at the airport.

The plane crashed into woods between Clark Road and Limerock Road about a half-mile from the North Central State Airport at about 5 p.m. Monday. Warcup said the plane apparently cleared an electric cable before crashing perhaps 100 feet beyond.

Investigators originally said they believed the plane had lost power. Shawn D. Etcher, an air safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, said yesterday that it was "a rumor," but one that would be considered as part of the investigation.

Etcher also said the fire that engulfed the plane was "post-impact."

Warcup and Etcher said it would be six months to a year for the National Transportation Safety Board to issue a report listing the cause of the accident.

-- With reports from Journal staff writer Thomas J. Morgan and Amanda Milkovits

By Art Martone
Journal Sports Editor

Rotoworld.com has posted an item that, according to a Kansas City radio station, the Red Sox have traded Coco Crisp to the Royals for reliever Ramon Ramirez.

Click the link to view Ramirez' profile, via projostats.com.

The trade of Crisp would leave only three major-league-ready outfielders -- Jason Bay, Jacoby Ellsbury and J.D. Drew -- on the Red Sox' roster, leading to speculation that a deal for, or the signing of, another outfielder, such as Rhode Island native Rocco Baldelli, is imminent.

EAST PROVIDENCE -- Maximus, the State Police German shepherd, directed this morning diggers searching for the body of Joseph P. "Joe Onions" Scanlon, the victim of a mobster assassination 30 years ago, to an area close to Bullocks Point Avenue.

As of 9:30 a.m., two backhoes were being refueled to resume the search, already in its third day.

So far, no body remains have been found, but investigators say they are convinced the body will be found.

Investigators have so far dug through an area of about 10 yards by 40 yards, including a portion of the area where Maximus has directed them this morning. The land is being excavated and refilled in small sections at a time to accommodate the backhoes.

Monday morning, authorities say, Nicholas "Nicky" Pari, one of two men convicted for Scanlon's killing, showed officers where he now says he buried Scanlon's body, an apartment complext in East Providence's Riverside section less than 20 yards from the East Bay Bike Path. A state police dog also detected a scent of human remains, authorities said.

As part of a 1982 plea agreement, Pari and Andrew F. Merola told authorities they had dumped Scanlons' body in Narragansett Bay and pleaded no contest to reduced charges.

Merola has since died.

Pari, 71, who is dying from cancer and is confined to a wheelchair, was arrested Monday and charged with being the mastermind of a large-scale racketeering, drug peddling and stolen goods operation based at the Valley Street Flea Market, 500 Valley St.

Because of his poor health, Pari was allowed to remain free on $30,000 surety bond.

So far, 22 people have been charged. Authorities are looking for one more suspect and say additional arrests may result as additional charges are laid against those already in custody.

-- With reports from W. Zachary Malinowski and Mike Stanton

PROVIDENCE -- A family of six was displaced early this morning after their kitchen caught fire, firefighters said.

No one was injured.

The fire started at about 1:53 a.m. on the second floor unit at 93 Abbott St., a three-unit residential building, Providence Fire Battalion Chief Thomas Brearley said.

Brearley said a woman in the apartment was heating up some grease but left the stove unattended briefly. By the time she returned, the grease had ignited and the flames had spread to the kitchen cabinets and a section of the ceiling.

The fire was quickly extinguished.

Power had to be shut off in the unit. The fire, which has been ruled accidental, caused heavy smoke damage to the unit, Brearley said.

The Red Cross is helping the family -- four adults and two children -- with temporary housing.

WESTERLY -- This holiday season, state officials and business owners are encouraging Rhode Islanders to buy local.

"Buy Local RI," a new economic development initiative to support local businesses, officially launched yesterday.

Today, Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts, chairwoman of the Small Business Advocacy Council (SBAC), will make her first stop on the "Main Street" walking tour.

Roberts, state and local elected officials, chamber of commerce members, and local business owners will visit downtown Westerly businesses this afternoon. The "shopping" tour will begin at 1 p.m. at In Due Time Boutique, 12 Broad St., and will continue along Broad Street and up High Street to Canal Street.

Additional "Main Street" events will include Greenville, Providence, Wickford, Warren and Newport.

"The economy in Rhode Island is struggling," Roberts said yesterday in a news release.

"As we look at our economy turning down, we need to invest our dollars here in Rhode Island. One of the best things we can do is to support local businesses. We know that Rhode Island is home to thousands of unique artists, artisans, retailers, manufacturers, cafes, restaurants and farmers whose small businesses are locally owned and crucial to our neighborhoods, our quality of life, and Rhode Island's overall economy."

PROVIDENCE -- A Providence man pleaded guilty this week to charges he shot a man outside a Hartford Park nightclub in 2006 and murdered a man in Providence in 2008, the Rhode Island Attorney General's Office said yesterday in a news release.

Luis Mercado, 37, formerly of 120 Corliss St., was sentenced Monday to 60 years, with 27 to serve at the Adult Correctional Institutions.

Mercado had been arraigned last week for the June 25 murder of Virgilio Rojo in Providence.

Mercado was also being re-tried for shooting Victor Cortes in the head in 2006 in the parking lot of Club Giza in Providence's Hartford Park section.

His first trial ended in mistrial in September.

Just before opening statements were to begin in the Cortes trial, Mercado pleaded guilty to one count of assault with a dangerous weapon and one count of possessing a firearm after having previously committed a crime of violence.

The state agreed to dismiss two additional counts of carrying a pistol without a license and one count of discharging a firearm while committing a crime of violence.

A charge of assault with intent to commit specified felonies had been previously dismissed.

Associate Justice Robert D. Krause sentenced Mercado to 20 years, with five to serve, on the assault with a dangerous weapon charge and 10 years to serve concurrently for the gun possession charge.

At the same time, Mercado pleaded guilty to one count of murder and one count of carrying a pistol without a license in the 2008 murder.

Krause sentenced him to 60 years, with 27 to serve, for Rojo's murder and a concurrent sentence of 10 years to serve for carrying a pistol without a license. The remaining 33 years were suspended with probation.

The state agreed to dismiss a count of discharging a firearm while committing a crime of violence and one count of possessing a firearm after having committed a crime of violence.

The sentences on both cases are to be served concurrently.

Mercado had been held at the ACI since he was arrested on Aug. 15.

ATTLEBORO, Mass. (AP) -- A 74-year-old blind woman's 1-cent debt to the city of Attleboro has been settled.

People from across the country called city hall on yesterday offering to pay the 1-cent balance owed by Eileen Wilbur for an overdue water and sewer bill.

Antonio Viveiros, a former city councilor who does not know Wilbur, wrote a check for one penny yesterday. He tells The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro that he was "irked" by the fact that the federal government can spend billions for bailouts, yet a senior citizen was threatened with a lien on her home of 50 years over 1 cent.

Wilbur's daughter first noticed the letter that warned of a lien and a $48 penalty if the overdue bill was not paid by Dec. 10.

Mayor Kevin Dumas says the whole situation was blown out of proportion.

-- The Associated Press

On this day in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address as he dedicated a national cemetery at the site of the Civil War battlefield in Pennsylvania.

Read more about today in history.

By Tatiana Pina
Journal staff writer

PROVIDENCE -- The trial for Gilbert Delestre, who is accused of beating 3-year-old Thomas J. Wright to death four years ago, is scheduled to begin today in Providence County Superior Court.

Delestre faces one count of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Judge Netti C. Vogel will hear the case.

Lawyers finished jury selection yesterday, picking 10 women and 4 men who will hear the case. When all evidence is presented, 12 jurors will be selected to determine innocence or guilt.

Prosecutors say that Delestre and his girlfriend, Katherine Bunnell, beat her nephew, Thomas, to death four years ago after they returned to their Woonsocket apartment from a night out and found yogurt and milk he had spilled on the living room floor. Delestre and Bunnell were caring for Thomas and his two brothers in addition to their own two children while Bunnell's sister, Karen Wright, served a prison term in Illinois for marijuana trafficking.

The pair was given separate trials because they each accused the other of inflicting the injuries that killed Thomas. Bunnell, who was charged with murder and conspiracy, was convicted of second-degree murder and conspiracy. She was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole.

PROVIDENCE -- Bundle up for the long run and check on that heating, you won't want it to fail over the next few days.

Today's high will top near 38, with north winds reaching up to 22 mph.

By tonight, temperatures will fall into the teens -- the National Weather Service is now predicting 19, but that may change. And sure enough, by tomorrow, the forecast calls for a "chance of flurries" with temperatures staying in the mid-30s.

Turn to projo.com/weather for the latest weather conditions and up-to-date forecasts.