Gun Case Continued -- Without The Gun

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Gun Case Continued—Without The Gun

by Thomas MacMillan and Melissa Bailey | Aug 6, 2010 1:24 pm

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Posted to: Legal Writes, Wooster Square

Thomas MacMillan Photo Mario Augusto showed up in court Friday on charges that he burglarized an alderman’s home and threatened the alderman with a deadly weapon during a foot chase. But the weapon is missing.

Augusto appeared before Judge Joseph Licari on State Superior Court on Elm Street in connection with a burglary at the Lyon Street home of Alderman Michael Smart (pictured speaking about the crime on Monday), who represents Wooster Square. Smart said he happened upon the man on July 24 while he was breaking into Smart’s home, then chased him down the street, during which time the man pointed a revolver at him three times and threatened to shoot him. Smart said he then hopped into a police cruiser and helped the cops track down the suspect. But the cops never tracked down the gun.

Licari Friday continued Augusto’s case to Aug. 27. He kept the case in the Elm Street courthouse rather than transfer it to the Part A courthouse on Church Street, where more serious crimes are heard. Augusto’s court-assigned public defender, Jennifer Mellon, theorized that the fact that cops never recovered the gun is keeping the case out of Part A.

Smart said he is disappointed the case was not transferred to Part A. The alderman said he intends to push for Augusto to be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Augusto was arrested on nine charges. The most severe was first-degree burglary. The class B felony, given for breaking into a house while carrying a deadly weapon, carries a sentence of one to 20 years.

Since the gun was never found, if the case goes to trial, it would pit the suspect’s word against the word of the alderman.

Here’s what happened on July 24, according to a police report written by Officer Roger Kergaravat:

Smart left his house at 3:30 p.m to get a haircut. He returned about an hour later and found the side gate open, and the shades blowing in and out of a window. He saw a man come out of the rear door of his house carrying a five-gallon water jug full of change. When Smart saw him, the man dropped the jug and ran. Smart chased him. As they ran, the suspect turned three times and pointed a gun at Smart, threatening to shoot and kill him.

At 4:32 p.m., Kergaravat responded to a 911 call from Smart. He saw Smart run up to another cop’s cruiser. Smart gave a description of the suspect. He hopped in Kergaravat’s cruiser and guided the car to St. John Street, where Smart pointed out Augusto, walking on the south side of the street.

The suspect was wearing an olive green JanSport backpack, a black T-shirt and black high-top sneakers. Kergaravat approached the suspect outside 312 St. John St. He told him “several times” to get on the ground. The suspect refused and ran down the driveway, according to the report.

As he ran, the suspect ditched his backpack in the rear of 312 St. John St.. The cop kept chasing him through the neighborhood. The suspect hopped two fences. Officer Scott Durkin eventually found him hiding in a garage at 347 Greene St., according to the report.

The suspect had no ID on him—just a note from court stemming from a separate arrest the day before. He was charged on July 23 with criminal trespass and use of drug paraphernalia. A judge released him on a promise to appear in court.

This time, he didn’t get off so easily. Police reported finding the following items in his pockets:

A red and black spring-loaded Kershaw knife, a Kyocera cell phone, a promise-to-appear note, a pack of tissues, a Bell flashing light, and a blue Bic lighter. He also had the following things on his person that Smart said were stolen from his daughters’ bedrooms: two digital cameras, two $20 Dunkin’ Donuts gift cards, a $25 gift card to the Cold Stone Creamery, and two currency notes for 10 and 100 Rupees.

Police later recovered the suspect’s backpack. Smart identified the following items in the backpack as having been stolen from his house: a $2,500 city-owned HP Elite laptop computer, two pairs of white socks, a pair of black sunglasses belonging to his daughter, a bottle of his wife’s perfume, a black leather wallet, a pair of silver earrings, a blue umbrella, a Duracell flashlight, a cell charger, two cold bottles of Poland Spring water, one cold can of Pepsi, and one cold can of Budweiser.

Police also looked for the revolver that Smart said the suspect pointed at him.

Six police officers “conducted an extensive neighborhood canvas in an attempt to locate the handgun used in this burglary, but were met with negative results,” Kergaravat wrote. Firefighters brought over ladders so they could check the tops of flat roofs, but no gun was found.

Smart said the police later informed him the police would have used gun-sniffing dogs, but the dogs were sick.

Cops charged the suspect with first-degree burglary, carrying a dangerous weapon, first-degree reckless endangerment, interfering with an officer, possession of burglar tools, and the following counts in the second degree: threatening, breach of peace, larceny, and criminal mischief.

The suspect, who also goes by the alias Mario Augusto Montiero, remains in police custody on a $150,000 bond.

Just before noon on Friday, Augusto was escorted from lock-up into Courtroom A. He wore an oversized white T-shirt, camouflage cargo shorts, and black Air Jordan sneakers. His hands were cuffed behind him, and he wore ankle chains. His hair was styled in short dreads.

Augusto, who told police he is from Cape Verde originally and gave an Elm Street home address, requested a Portuguese language interpreter for his brief court appearance.

Without discussion, Judge Licari granted a motion to continue the case.

Mellon declined to comment on how Augusto will plead. She said he faces the possibility of more than 10 years in prison.

Contacted after the court appearance, Alderman Smart said it was “unfortunate” that Augusto’s case was not moved to Part A.

“I wish they would’ve found the gun,” he said. “It’s certainly very serious.”

Smart said he plans to work to ensure Augusto is given a stiff sentence. “I’m going to push to keep this guy off the streets.”

He said he was told by police that Augusto has been linked to other burglars in the Wooster Square area, including a break-in at St. Michael’s Church.

Smart said he is concerned about the missing gun, which he described as a black revolver.

“He could have dumped the gun anywhere,” Smart said. By now, someone else—even a child—could have found it and picked it up, Smart said. “There’s a dangerous weapon somewhere out there.”

Regardless of whether or not the gun was found, Augusto has committed a very serious crime, Smart said. The fact that he broke into a house in the middle of the afternoon suggests that he was prepared for someone to be home and thus was probably carrying a gun, Smart theorized. “This thing borders on home invasion.”

If he had come home earlier, or if his two teenage daughters had been the first to arrive home, someone could have been killed, Smart said.

A jury will understand the severity of the incident, he said.

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