Police Prepare For Booze-Free St. Pat's

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Police Prepare For Booze-Free St. Pat’s

by Thomas MacMillan | Mar 12, 2010 4:14 pm

(5) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: Legal Writes

Contributed Photo Police plan to ensure that this weekend’s St. Patrick’s Day parade is a “family event” and not a “drunk fest.”

Following up on a promise to crackdown on public drinking at Sunday’s parade, police spokesman Officer Joe Avery released the following statement on Thursday:

“The New Haven Police Department will be enforcing public drinking laws in New Haven during the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade. 170 officers will be deployed for the parade to deal with traffic and public drinking. Please leave your coolers home or they will be confiscated if you refuse you will be arrested. After many complaints to the Police and Saint Patrick’s Day Committee this has become a joint effort to make this parade a true family event not a drunk fest.”

Police announced that the penalty for drinking in public is a $99 fine.

Police Nab Burglary Suspect

Police chased an erratically driven pick-up truck into East Haven and cornered it behind an apartment complex. They found it was full of stolen construction equipment.

Here’s what happened, according to Avery:

At 2:12 a.m. on Friday, Officer M. Francia spotted a black pickup truck turn erratically from Stiles Street onto Forbes Avenue, headed toward Fulton Street. When Francia tried to pull the truck over, it sped through a red light. The driver continued into East Haven and refused to stop until he was boxed in behind an apartment complex on Laurel Street.

In the truck, police found a variety of used and new construction equipment, including two brand new Honda generators. After tracing the serial numbers on the equipment, police found it was purchased by Walsh Construction. The construction company told police that their storage trailers near Stiles Street have been burglarized several times in recent weeks.

The 42-year-old driver of the pickup was arrested on charges of burglary and engaging an officer in pursuit.

Food Stamp Defrauder Sentenced

The Connecticut U.S. Attorney’s office announced on Thursday that the former owner of a New Haven convenience store was sentenced for defrauding the Federal Food Stamp Program.

Manilal Joitaram Patel, 57, of Hamden, owned the Sadavi Mini Mart at 34-C Cinque Green at the Church Street South housing complex in the Hill. In Oct. 2005, the Mini Mart started participating in the food stamp program. Under the program, items such as beer and cigarettes are not eligible for purchase with food stamps. It is also prohibited to exchange cash for food stamps.

In December 2007, a federal agent began visiting the Sadavi Mini Mart and exchanging food stamps for cash and ineligible items, including cigarettes and a phone card. Between July 2007 and May 2008, Patel defrauded the food stamp program of $328,525.19.

Patel pleaded guilty to the crime on Oct. 27, 2009. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Alfred V. Covello ordered Patel to pay full restitution to the government. He sentenced Patel to five years of probation, including one year of home confinement with electronic monitoring, and a fine of $25,000.

Crime Map

Click here for a list of major crimes for March 11. Click on the image below to see those incidents placed on a citywide map.

For block-by-block year-to-date crime information, plus daily crime maps, check out the Independent’s Crime Log.

Comments

posted by: Pat from Westvile on March 13, 2010 7:41am

Question re the photo in the story about no booze at tomorrow’s St. Patrick’s Day parade in New Haven. . .the sign says the “maximum penalty” is L500, that capital L with a slash commonly means “pounds”...and offence is the British spelling for offense…would seem the photo is NOT of a sign anywhere in New Haven (or the U.S. for that matter). Guess somebody was in a hurry to pull up a “No Drinking” sign photo for the story and didn’t look at it carefully.

posted by: Chuck on March 13, 2010 2:57pm

Must have gotten a deal on the signs.. ebay maybe?

posted by: Tim on March 14, 2010 11:20am

Why are convience stores allowed into the food stamp program? This seems to be opening the door to a lot more fraud. At least if only big stores allowed the stamps I can see less chance for fraud. Over 300k? In one year? Thats alot of beer and cigs!

posted by: Walt on March 14, 2010 11:32am

Sign appears to be from England.

Reminds me of the refrain from an old Irish drinking song ” May every Limey sxx of a bxxxx kiss my Irish axx”

Good song after a few beers occasionally, but not meant too seriously.

posted by: Whatsername on March 14, 2010 11:23pm

@Tim:

Unfortunately, since there aren’t always supermarkets near areas of low-income residents, it necessitates allowing convenience stores to accept food stamps and WIC. I agree with you, though, that allowing convenience stores to accept food stamps/WIC makes it incidences of fraud more likely (more people brokering these services = higher chance of fraud). It would be great if every community had easier access to grocery stores that didn’t charge outrageous prices for basics.

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