At around 10PM on Sunday, February 2nd, New Hampshire State Police pulled over a 29-year-old Webster woman on Route 93 North in Bow, NH after the trooper observed her making several motor vehicle violations. Police say Felicia Purcell was operating under the influence of alcohol and traveling with two children, ages 4 and 6. Purcell was arrested and charged with aggravated driving under the influence over .16, two counts of aggravated DUI with a passenger under age 16, and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child. She was released on personal recognizance and is scheduled for arraignment in the Concord, NH District Court in the near future. https://www.facebook.com/NHTroopers/posts/10157050037703041
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Police in Dudley are warning area residents about several vehicle break-ins reported in the vicinity of Corbin Road and Dudley-Oxford Road. The crimes were committed between midnight at 5AM on Saturday. In addition to small items and cash being taken from inside of vehicles, a red 2010 Nissan Maxima was stolen from a driveway of a home on Corbin Road. Police want to make people aware of these occurrences and remind you to keep your vehicles locked, and keep items out of view. Police Chief Steve Wojnar says, “Unlocked vehicles are easy targets and the perpetrators have a lower risk of being discovered since they are not causing damage (breaking glass, etc.). Perhaps as…
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On Friday night, just after 8:30PM, multiple 911 calls were made to Oxford Police and Fire Departments about a fire at a vacant building located at 91 Fort Hill Road. Crews arrived with additional tanker trucks because the structure was “outside of the hydrant district” according to Oxford Deputy Fire Chief Jon Belanger. The blaze quickly became a 2-alarm fire and mutual aid was brought in from surrounding towns including Webster, Auburn, Leicester, Sutton, Douglas, Charlton, Dudley and Sturbridge. The fire was determined to be knocked down just after 10PM. There were no injuries reported, and damage was estimated at $40,000. The property was last sold in 2018 and was previously listed as being “settled…
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Dudley Police were called to the Dollar General Store at 13 West Main Street on Wednesday afternoon for a report of a suspicious motor vehicle. A white Kia was seen in the parking lot over the course of two days between the hours of 1 and 4PM. Police say on both occasions, two males were in the running vehicle and they appeared to be acting as though they were asleep. The driver was identified as 58-year old George Rice III, and passenger 26-year old Omar Ayala, both of Worcester. Upon questioning, both men “appeared extremely nervous and they provided inconsistent stories,” according to police. During the investigation, officers located what appeared to be cocaine, heroin,…
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At 2AM on Wednesday morning, Oxford Police made an arrest of a unidentified man who had “several outstanding warrants.” In a post on Facebook, the department said they located the weapon in the photo above “concealed on the suspect’s person.” The man was arraigned on firearms related charges in Dudley District Court. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2865225896872698&id=506969139365064
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A 25-year-old Southbridge man was arrested just after 2:30PM on January 1, 2020. Southbridge Police say Giovanni Torres was arrested after leaving his Hamilton Street apartment after conducting surveillance in the area. Detectives were assigned to the area after receiving numerous complaints about the distribution of drugs in the vicinity. Torres was seen getting into the passenger side of a black SUV and the vehicle was pulled over a short time later. Police conducted a motor vehicle stop and found Torres lying down in the back seat of the SUV with 6 small packages of suspected crack cocaine on him. He was arrested and charged with possession of a Class B substance and also held…
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On the afternoon of Friday, December 13th at around 5:40 PM police in Sturbridge were called to Route 131 at the intersection of Fairview Park Road for a report of a pedestrian struck by a vehicle. The man, who had been walking on the westbound side of the road, was hit in an area that is not well lit, and does not have a sidewalk, according to police. Weather conditions at the time may have been a factor, as it was raining and foggy at the time of the accident. First aid was administered to the victim, identified as 67-year-old Peter Morin of West Brookfield. Morin was transported to a local hospital where he was…
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On Saturday, December 14th, many area police departments will be taking part in a “Goods For Guns” campaign. Local residents with unwanted or unsafe firearms will be able to take them to a participating police station and trade them in for gift cards for local supermarkets. For each operable gun, you will receive $25 per rifle, $50 per pistol and $75 for automatic or semi-automatic weapons. This program, sponsored in part by the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office, is designed to prevent injury or death from guns in local homes. Registrations or licenses for these weapons are not necessary during this time and the program is anonymous. Free gun locks are also available to those who…
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At around 7:30PM on Saturday night, a Massachusetts State Police trooper assigned to the Athol Barracks, was patrolling in Gardner when he ran a license plate of a 2013 Chevrolet Impala with a suspended registration. While trying to pull over the vehicle, the driver pulled into a CVS parking lot at a high rate of speed nearly striking several vehicles, according to police. While the getaway continued, the driver, later identified as 28 year old Thomas LaFrance of Webster, struck a snow bank and the vehicle became stuck. State Police say, LaFrance eventually exited the vehicle and began a struggle with the trooper. LaFrance re-entered the vehicle and appeared to “retrieve something or hide something”…
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A man and woman from Dudley are facing kidnapping and robbery charges after being accused of threatening a woman at gunpoint and forcing her to drive them around Dudley and Webster for an hour on Tuesday evening. Dudley Police say 44-year-old Jessie Thibodeau and 31-year-old Nichole Murphy approached the victim in her car in the parking lot of the Dollar General on West Main Street and asked if they could smoke inside of her car to get out of the cold because they were homeless. The woman allowed them into her car, where Thibodeau told her he had a gun and held it to the back of her head. She dropped them off at The…
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