Cases In The News
August 3rd, 2010
Attorney James Powderly is currently representing a Fall River man charged with kidnapping and rape. The Defendant was in court on August 3rd during a dangerousness hearing where the Judge held him without bail. However, Attorney Powderly was able to raise doubt as to the identification made by the victim due to her inability to pick the Defendant out of a photo lineup.
Man accused of kidnapping, rape ordered held
By Mario HilarioTurn To 10.com
Posted August 3, 2010
FALL RIVER —
A man accused of kidnapping and raping a Fall River woman was ordered held without bail Tuesday at his dangerousness hearing.
Angel Luis Cruz, 38, of Fall River, has been held since his arrest last week. He is charged with kidnapping, assault and aggravated rape.
Police said Cruz grabbed a 58-year-old woman from her front porch July 25 as she was tending to some plants. They said Cruz took the woman to his apartment, where he raped her.
The woman's son testified he saw his mother's abduction and tried to stop it.
The woman helped police find the apartment.
Defense attorney James Powderly said he has serious concerns about the accuracy of those who have identified Cruz as the culprit.
"Most importantly, the victim -- obviously going through a traumatic event -- she had an opportunity to look at Mr. Cruz's photo and said that that wasn't him, that that wasn't the assailant," Powderly said. "That's clearly an issue."
Cruz was arraigned on new charges that he allegedly tried to kidnap a 66-year-old woman in Kennedy Park in March. She was able to fight him off.
Police said they were not able to identify Cruz as the suspect in that case until his arrest last month. He was also ordered held without bail on the new charges.
Cruz is due back in court in September.
June 11th, 2010
Attorney James Powderly is currently representing one of three defendants charged with arson, insurance fraud, and conspiracy. All three defendants were arraigned in the Taunton District Court on June 1st, 2010. The case is currently pending in the Taunton District Court.
Three men arraigned on insurance fraud charges in 2008 car fire
By Staff reportsTaunton Daily Gazette
Posted Jun 11, 2010 @ 10:05 AM
TAUNTON —
A lengthy investigation into a November 2008 vehicle fire in a remote section of Rehoboth resulted in the recent arraignments of three men on insurance fraud and conspiracy charges.
On June 1 in Taunton District Court, Woonsocket, R.I. residents Delin Dambra, 29, and Craig Ostrowski, 22, and Attleboro resident Wesley Salvas, 28, were arraigned on charges brought by Rehoboth police officer Brian Ramos.
Dambra, was charged with burning a motor vehicle to defraud the insurer, accessory before the fact, accessory after the fact and conspiracy, all felonies.
Ostrowski and Salvas are each charged with burning a motor vehicle, burning a motor vehicle to defraud the insurer and conspiracy, all felonies.
The charges were made after a lengthy investigation into a vehicle fire that occurred on Nov. 19, 2008 on Starr Lane. This area is in a remote section of town by the Swansea line.
The vehicle, a grey 1999 Jeep Cherokee, was fully engulfed in flames when police and fire personnel arrived on the scene. The vehicle was destroyed by the fire.
The suspects' next date in court is July 7, 2010 for a pre-trial conference.
Copyright 2010 The Taunton Gazette. Some rights reserved
May 13th, 2010
Attorney James Powderly is currently representing one of three defendants charged with assault to commit murder and gun charges. The case is currently pending in the Fall River District Court.
Judge Deems Trio Charged with Fall River Shooting Too Dangerous to Release
The Fall River Herald
The Boston Globe
The Boston Herald By Michael Holtzman
By Kevin P. O'Connor
Herald Hews Staff Reporter
FALL RIVER —
The city needs protection from Jovaughn Mills, Megan Ferreira and Luis Chevere, a judge ruled Thursday.
With that, the three will spend at least 90 days in jail as they await trial on the charge of attempted murder.
Mills, 18, of Fall River, Ferreira, 20, of New Bedford, and Chevere, 19, of Pine Street, were all deemed dangerous following a hearing that stretched over two days.
“I find there are no conditions of release to ensure the safety of (the victim), the witnesses or the community,” District Court Judge Toby Mooney ruled. “The commonwealth motions are allowed.”
Police allege Mills, Ferreira and Chevere were in Ferreira’s Volvo on the night of May 5 when Ferreira pulled up beside a car driven by a 22-year-old Pine Street man on Bedford Street and Mills opened fire, hitting the man in the arm and shattering the car window, causing glass to embed in the man’s face.
Prosecutor Carolyn Morrisette presented her case Wednesday, calling Detective Richard Saraiva to the stand to testify that both Mills and Ferreira admitted to their involvement in the shooting and Mills admitted he got into a gunfight on Pine Street the following day.
Both Mills and Ferreira told police that Ferreira did not know Mills had a gun until he opened fire that night on Bedford Street. Chevere denies he was at the shooting on Bedford Street.
The hearing in District Court was not a trial. It was held only to determine if there is reason to believe the defendants behaved so recklessly or with such disregard for the public good that the community needs to be protected from them.
The standard of proof a judge needs to conclude a defendant poses a danger to the community is much lower than the standard of proof a judge or jury would need to find a defendant guilty of the crime.
Despite that, the beginnings of a trial strategy could be seen emerging at the hearing.
The three defense lawyers worked together to undermine the credibility of the victim and then separated when explaining each defendant’s role in the shooting.
Mills is represented by Kenneth Van Colen, Ferreira by Kevin Phelan and Chevere by James Powderly.
“My client made a full admission to his participation in these events,” Van Colen said. “But experience tells us that nothing happens in a vacuum. He tells a version that involves self defense.
“It is naive of the police department to believe that (the victim) is an out-of-the-blue innocent victim. His story doesn’t make sense. There are elements of the victim’s story that are not easily corroborated, that are easily shown to be false.”
He added that the man shot is a greater danger to Fall River than any of those charged.
“With (the victim) and his people out there, the community isn’t safe, no matter what we do with my client,” Van Colen said.
Against Chevere, Powderly argued, a dishonest victim is coupled with a weak case.
“This is an extremely thin case in regards to Mr. Chevere,” Powderly said. The victim knows Chevere, and also said he saw everyone in the car when he was shot, Powderly argued.
“The fact that (the victim) did not identify Mr. Chevere speaks volumes,” Powderly said.
Ferreira, Phelan argued, was a victim of circumstance who cooperated with the police immediately after she and Mills were arrested on May 7.
Ferreira only recently moved out of her parent’s home in Westport and her parents are ready to take her back home if she is allowed house arrest, Phelan said.
“She was forthright with the police,” he argued. “I would ask your honor to consider an alternative to her being held without bail.”
The case now will be presented to a grand jury which must determine if there is enough evidence to proceed to trial in Superior Court. A hearing was tentatively set for June 11 for the court to review the case if the three are not indicted by then.
The prosecution now must be ready to bring the three to trial within 90 days.
Besides the charge of assault with the intent to commit murder, all three also face a host of gun charges.
A conviction on the charge of attempted murder with a firearm carries a minimum of five years up to a possible 20-year sentence.
E-mail Kevin P. O’Connor at koconnor@heraldnews.com.
Copyright 2010 The Herald News. Some rights reserved
January 13th, 2010
Attorney James Powderly is currently representing one of two defendants charged as an accessory to murder after the fact. The Client is alleged to have removed a body wrapped in a carpet from a residence at 68 Aetna Street in Fall River in December 2009. The case is currently pending in the Fall River District Court.
Third suspect sought in death of Fall River man
Globe Staff / December 30, 2009
Authorities are looking for a third person wanted in connection with the death of a man whose body was seen wrapped in a carpet and being carried out of a Fall River apartment Sunday. The body was later dumped in Rhode Island.
Fall River police and detectives assigned to the Bristol district attorney’s office are searching for Arnaldo Flores, 26. According to local reports, prosecutors said Flores shot the man and received help dumping the body from accomplices. Detectives were alerted after the body was seen being carried out of an Aetna Street apartment in a carpet.
Two others have already been charged in connection with the death of the man, identified as Osvaldo Gonsalez Martinez, 27, of Fall River.
Neidy Mendez, 31, and Carlos Rivera, also known as Angel Garcia, 27, both of Aetna Street in Fall River, are each charged with accessory to murder after the fact. Rivera was also charged with providing a false name.
A spokesman for Bristol District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter said that Mendez and Rivera are a couple and that Flores is Mendez’s brother. The victim was an acquaintance of all three.
Body discovered wrapped in carpet in Fall River
By Laura Crimaldi
Monday, December 28, 2009
Two people have been charged with being accessories to murder after an unidentified man wrapped in a carpet was removed from a Fall River apartment building yesterday afternoon, according to prosecutors.
Police have charged Angel Garcia, 27, and Neidy Mendez, 31, of Fall River, with being an accessory to murder after the fact, Bristol County District Attorney Samuel Sutter said in a statement.
Police launched an investigation yesterday at about 2 p.m. after they learned people were removing the body wrapped in a carpet from 68 Aetna St.
Garcia and Mendez live on the third floor of that apartment, Sutter said. They will be arraigned today in Fall River District Court.
Sutter said the homicide victim has not been identified, but is believed to be in his late 20s or early 30s.
Home invasion suspects staying put
Herald News Staff Reporter
January 07, 2009
A city man and woman charged with an armed weekend home invasion on Walnut Street are being held at the Bristol County House of Correction without bail at least one more week pending continuation of a dangerousness hearing.A Jan. 15 date in District Court was set for Matthew Vultao and Veronica Roman after the court determined Vultao will be represented by attorney Joseph Czwonka and Roman by attorney James Powderly.No information was presented Wednesday in District Court, following their arraignment and bail hearing on Monday. Judge Deborah A. Dunn continued the hearing on the dangerousness statute that Assistant District Attorney Mark Donovan requested be invoked. They can be held up to 90 days awaiting trial.Vultao, 33, of 331 Sunset Hill, is charged with home invasion, possession of a sawed-off shotgun and four counts of assault in a dwelling armed with a firearm.Roman, 27, of 145 Suffolk St., is charged with home invasion, assault in a dwelling armed with a firearm and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.Police reports say they were arrested at South Main and Slade streets at 8:16 p.m. Saturday night, 20 minutes after police responded to 849 Walnut St. Police report court records allege the pair wore black ski masks and Vultao carried a sawed-off shotgun, based upon statements by the two adult victims, when he knocked at the first-floor apartment and pointed the gun at the male victim. He was identified as Daniel Tavares, 22, who lived at 849 Walnut St. with a 20-year-old woman and her 1-year-old infant.The mother fled with her baby to a lower bedroom apartment during a scuffle Tavares had with Vultao when the suspect “lowered the gun for a second,” the female victim told police. The second suspect, whom police charge was Roman, struck Tavares in the back of the head with a heavy plaster candlestick that caused a bloody head wound.Court reports and police spokesman Sgt. Paul Gauvin confirmed statements made at Vultao’s arraignment Monday that authorities obtained the sawed-off shotgun alleged to have been used in the home invasion from Tavares’ brother, Mark Tavares, 30. Mark Tavares contacted police at 1 p.m. Sunday, a day after the incident, saying he found the shotgun. Tavares showed police where he found the gun, at 17 Colfax St., saying he found it resting in the bushes. It’s about three blocks from where the incident happened.That resulted in Officer Michael P. Perreira updating Vultao’s charges with possession of a sawed-off shotgun.Identified as a 12-gauge and 14¾ inches long, the report said the trigger housing area on the sawed-off shotgun was stamped “The White Powder Wonder.” It was not loaded.Roman, waiving her Miranda rights to self-incrimination, told police Vultao entered the apartment with another woman armed with a shotgun. She told police she and another man waited in the car.Daniel Tavares told police that when he chased the two suspects onto the street, a third person, whom he could not identify, drove the car. The suspects fled in what police were told was a gray or silver Cadillac. Police were assisted by a St. Anne’s Hospital officer, who said Vultao had sought emergency room care after an accident but fled the hospital in a newer model silver Cadillac. Police said they staked out the area of South Main and Globe streets, which was along the main route to 331 Sunset Hill, where Vultao was known to live with his parents. When police stopped the car, a bloodied Vultao and Roman were inside, reports said.She told police they dropped off a man and a woman before police stopped them. The car had heavy front-end damage.Inside the Cadillac, police said, they found two black ski masks and a gray and black glove, with blood on it, which matched a glove found on a hallway window sill at 849 Walnut St.
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