"State Police arrested a fugitive sex offender Tuesday morning at an apartment on Falmouth Street in Attleborough, police said. Caled Donatiu, 32, of Everett, was classified as a Level Three sex offender based on his 2008 conviction of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 in Salem, State Police said in a statement. Donatiu and an accomplice followed an 11-year-old girl for several blocks before forcing her into an alley and assaulting her, authorities said. Donatiu was wanted for failing to register as a sex offender and for failing to provide a DNA sample to law enforcement, police said...."
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"Man allegedly walks into police station to say he killed his wife" by Laura Crimaldi and John R. Ellement Globe Staff August 02, 2016
SALEM — A turbulent relationship that lasted nearly 30 years ended violently Tuesday when Douglas A. Steeves Jr. allegedly strangled his wife in her home — and then confessed his crime to Salem police, authorities said.
Steeves, 50, was ordered held without bail for allegedly murdering Carmela Saunders, 48, inside her Chandler Street apartment, just hours after a family dinner, authorities said.
Steeves had been living with a friend, but was kicked out and had “nowhere to go,” Essex Assistant District Attorney A.J. Camelio said. On Monday night, Steeves was invited to his daughter’s apartment to take a shower and have dinner, Camelio said.
But the visit took a violent turn when Steeves received a phone call from a man who told him to “stay away from his girl,” according to a police report filed in Salem District Court. The call sparked a fight between Steeves and Saunders, police wrote.
“She scratched him, and at that point he put his hands on her throat and he strangled her,” Camelio said. “He left her on the bed, covered her body, and left the apartment.”
Around 3:44 a.m., Steeves walked into the Salem police station and told an officer what he did, Camelio said.
Steeves’s lawyer, Raymond Buso, said his client’s mental state at the time of the killing might be part of his defense. He said Steeves cannot remember all of what happened.
Saunders’ death followed years of alleged abuse in a relationship that dated back to her teenage years. The couple married in 1987 and had five children, the youngest of whom is 17, officials and friends said.
Saunders had filed for divorce twice since last September, citing abuse, and received two restraining orders against Steeves, most recently in May. That restraining order was still in effect, records show.
Maybe if she had a gun.
The May order was granted after Steeves allegedly followed her to Salem, N.H., where he “started to harass me, calling me dirty names” in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart store, records show. Later that day, he bluntly threatened her.
“I will take care of you,” he said, according to an affidavit signed by Saunders. “I don’t care what happens to be [sic], but I will get you.”
The other restraining order was issued in 1994 after Steeves allegedly tried to strangle Saunders, Camelio said.
A friend of Saunders said she once told her that Steeves had tried to kill her.
“She told me that, a long time ago, Doug tried to kill her,” the friend said. “She told me he tried to strangle her so she broke up with him. She was afraid of him. She left him and he was a stalker. He stalked her all the time.’’
The friend asked to remain anonymous out of concern for her personal safety.
Lisa Vidinha, 49, who lives near the Chandler Street home where Saunders was attacked, said the couple’s relationship became strained soon after they moved into a second-floor apartment about six months ago.
Saunders moved in with relatives on the third floor, while Steeves was evicted for failing to pay rent, she said.
Even after Steeves moved away, Saunders complained that he would not leave her alone, often calling her and sending her text messages, Vidinha said. Sometimes, Steeves drove by and honked the horn on his blue Chevy Suburban, she said.
“I told him to leave. ‘You don’t belong here. You got a restraining order. Don’t you know that? I will call the cops,’ ” Vidinha said.
She said she heard screams overnight, but did not know who was in trouble. A police officer told her about the killing Tuesday morning, Vidinha said.
“My heart just like dropped,” she said. “If it was her screams I would have been over here. I know he’s abusive and he’s a bully.”
Vidinha said she last saw Saunders Saturday.
“She was fine,” she said. “She was a loving girl. She would help anybody.”
Saunders’ first divorce complaint was dismissed last November after Saunders said the couple reconciled, court records show. She initiated divorce proceedings again in February.
“Carmen had this thing — she loved him but she hated him,’’ said the friend. “It was like a love hate relationship. But she wanted to slip away, but she just didn’t know how to do it.’’
Please stop romanticizing the abusive relationship that had to have been pure hell for that woman.
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"Malden High staffer pleads not guilty to raping disabled student" by Laura Crimaldi and John R. Ellement Globe Staff August 09, 2016
WOBURN — An assistant teacher and coach at Malden High School pleaded not guilty Tuesday to accusations that he raped a 16-year-old disabled boy in a school bathroom and threatened to kill the teenager’s mother if he resisted.
Steven J. MacDonald, 46, of Malden, was released on personal recognizance following his arraignment in Middlesex Superior Court on charges of rape, indecent assault and battery on a disabled person, and assault with intent to rape.
Had a fire down below.
In court, Assistant District Attorney Courtney C. Linnehan said the attacks on the boy, who has “multiple disabilities,” began last September when MacDonald was assigned to work in the teenager’s classroom as a paraprofessional. MacDonald was responsible for taking the boy to the bathroom, she said.
The predator goes where is the prey. Sick.
Linnehan alleged that during trips to the bathroom MacDonald committed sex acts on himself, raped the student, and forced the student to commit other sex acts.
“The defendant continuously threatened to go to the victim’s home and kill his mother,’’ Linnehan said.
As the alleged assaults continued during the school year, Linnehan said, the student tried to avoid using the bathroom, but would sometimes have “accidents” and was left with soaked clothes in the hallways of the school.
Poor kid, and that means they are probably diagnosing him with some other illness. Good Lord!
MacDonald, she said, sometimes offered the student candy “to lure him into the bathroom.’’
She said the student told school employees that MacDonald was “mean.” He stayed home from school on March 24 and March 25 and reported the incidents to his mother on March 27.
“He did not return to Malden High School again,’’ Linnehan said.
MacDonald was placed on administrative leave March 29 after school officials were alerted to the allegations, said Malden Mayor Gary Christenson, who also leads the city’s school committee.
MacDonald also served as assistant football coach from 2012 to 2016 and coached freshman baseball from 2014 until he was put on leave, Christenson said.
The mayor called the indictment “deeply concerning,” but said he could not comment further, citing an ongoing criminal investigation and personnel matters. Licensure is not required for paraprofessionals, a state education official said.
Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan said Malden police and school officials helped to investigate the allegations against MacDonald. A grand jury indicted him Aug. 2, court records show.
“The defendant in this case was trusted to care for and assist the student that he allegedly sexually assaulted,” Ryan said in a statement. “Such allegations, if proven, violate the trust that parents and guardians place in their children’s educators.”
MacDonald appeared in court surrounded by about 10 relatives and friends. He declined to comment.
In an interview, defense attorney Alan Tuttman called the indictments against MacDonald “troubling,” saying the accuser’s allegations are not credible. “They’re not believable,” Tuttman said. “There’s nothing to substantiate it. There’s no physical evidence.”
MacDonald’s accuser uses a wheelchair and functions at a second-grade level, Tuttman said. “It’s pretty widely known that the alleged victim would fabricate,” he said.
Wow, that's a boomerang, dumping the kid out of the chair and then kick 'em!
Tuttman described MacDonald as a “well respected member of the Malden community” who has been married for 18 years and has two sons, ages 13 and 16. “He’s a little bit in shock,” Tuttman said.
After all the elite school abuse? Shocked?
MacDonald was initially ordered to wear a GPS monitoring bracelet while awaiting trial, but Tuttman successfully appealed the ruling during a hearing before Judge Bruce Henry, court records show.
Under the terms of his release, MacDonald is prohibited from having unsupervised contact with children 18 years or younger, excluding his own. He is also barred from holding a job or volunteer position with children under 18. MacDonald’s next court date is Sept. 15.
Joe Pappagallo, the former head football coach at Malden High, said he began coaching with MacDonald in 2000 and let him baby-sit his children.
“This is so out of character for him; it’s not even close,” Pappagallo said in a phone interview. “Nobody believes it. Everybody says there’s somebody bearing false witness here.”
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"15-year-old boy shot, critically wounded in South Boston" by Vivian Wang Globe Correspondent August 16, 2016
A South Boston housing development has seen more than its share of gun violence this summer, with a shooting Monday night leaving a 15-year-old boy critically wounded and residents reeling from what they say has become a regular occurrence.
“That’s been kind of a hot spot this summer,” Mayor Martin J. Walsh said of the Mary Ellen McCormack development, where the boy was shot just before midnight while sitting in a car near 24 Gavin Way. A woman was shot at the development in July but survived.
No arrests have been made in Monday’s shooting, and the victim has not been identified. Police said he was in critical condition but expected to survive.
“Right now it’s every night, disorder, disorder,” said Carlos Marrero, 46, who lives at 24 Gavin Way. “I’m scared to go out of my apartment. This street has a problem.”
He and his 19-year-old daughter spent the night sleeping on the floor, Marrero said, because he worried about bullets flying through the window.
City and housing officials say they understand that residents are worried. They are collaborating to bring tighter security measures to the development.
Meanwhile, gun violence across the city has fallen compared with last summer.
Whatever you say.
Bill McGonagle, administrator of the Boston Housing Authority, said he and Walsh have discussed installing security cameras along Gavin Way, as well as nearby Logan Way and Sterling Square.
“It’s been a difficult summer,” he said. “People are concerned, and we want to make sure that we’re responding to those concerns.”
McGonagle said he hopes the cameras will be installed by the start of next year, and he estimated they will cost between $500,000 and $600,000.
The housing authority has taken other steps recently to enhance safety. It installed exterior lighting throughout the development last year.
The Boston Police Department has also stepped up its presence. The Mary Ellen McCormack development has a fixed patrol for the first time this summer, meaning that officers are on site 24 hours a day, McGonagle said. The housing authority also has its own security force with about 20 officers.
Hours after the shooting, which was reported around 11:40 p.m. Monday, neighbors were still on edge.
Marrero said he wishes the police presence were more consistent and not just increased during times of violence.
Another woman in the same building, who asked not to be identified, said her children and grandchildren have all asked her to move out.
“My daughter told me, this is the end,” she said.
Neighbors were unable to identify the victim by name but said they had often seen him riding his bike around the development....
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Related:
"The Boston Housing Authority is seeking a one-time $4 million allocation from the city to keep public safety officers in buildings that house the elderly and disabled. The money would fill a federal funding gap and for one year cover the wages and benefits of 56 unarmed officers who check in guests and patrol the buildings, said Bill McGonagle, the authority’s administrator. The $4 million the housing authority is requestingwill pay the wages and benefits for 56 unarmed officers who carry radios on their patrols. The agency also spends another $3.1 million for 17 armed officers and about a half dozen dispatchers, McGonagle said. Nearly 30 violent incidents involving the elderly and disabled were reported from January through July, according to data the authority provided...."
Also related:
"$35 million. That’s how much the grand penthouse at the top of Millennium Tower sold for, apparently to billionaire investor Jonathan Grayken. A deed filed Wednesday in Suffolk County indicates that a holding company called Kilda LLC paid Millennium $35 million for the 13,000-square-foot condo, which, on the 60th floor of the new condo tower, is the highest residence ever built in Boston. Either way, he got a bit of a bargain. Millennium had listed the penthouse for sale at $37.5 million. So he paid 6.7 percent below the asking price. And according to the deed, his place comes with six parking spaces. Four of them are even reserved."
I wonder how much their $ecurity co$ts.
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"Three charged with selling heroin out of convenience store" by John R. Ellement Globe Staff August 23, 2016
Three men were arrested in Holyoke for allegedly selling heroin out of a convenience store in the Western Massachusetts city, authorities said Tuesday.
The men taken into custody were involved in operating or managing the Holyoke Mini Mart on High Street, authorities said in a statement.
FBI agents, Holyoke police, and State Police assigned to the Hampden district attorney’s office raided three addresses in Holyoke on Saturday and seized 5,600 bags of suspected heroin and $19,000 in cash, officials said.
“The [search] warrants were the result of an investigation into the sale of illicit narcotics inside and around the area of the Holyoke Mini Mart Convenience Store,’’ authorities said.
Police identified those arrested as Charles Pedrosa, 48, Emiliano Santiago, 30, and his brother, Daniel, 29 of Holyoke.
The men were each arraigned in Holyoke District Court Monday on charges of trafficking in 100 to 200 grams of heroin, possession of cocaine, possession with intent to distribute, drug violation within 100 feet of a school or public park, and conspiracy, police said.
Prosecutors requested $100,000 bail for each of the suspects, but Emiliano Santiago was ordered held on $7,500 bail and both Pedrosa and Daniel Santiago were ordered held on $5,000 each.
The men are scheduled for pretrial conferences on Sept. 15."
Related:
"Investigators found drugs in a secret compartment inside the vehicle of a suspected drug dealer Monday night, according to Quincy police. Police had been investigating 41-year-old Andrew Costello for much of August for allegedly dealing drugs out of 22 Bigelow St., police said in a statement. At about 7:30 p.m. Monday, police saw what they believed to be a drug deal between Costello and Leudy Fernandez-Santiago, 25, of Lynn, inside Fernandez-Santiago’s gray Honda Accord. Once officers approached Costello, they found about 19 grams of fentanyl and $545 cash, police said. Costello said he had purchased drugs from Fernandez-Santiago. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that has been cited in many deaths associated with the Massachusetts opioid epidemic. It is thought to be about 50 to 100 times more powerful than heroin, and the two are frequently combined and sold. An officer pulled over Fernandez-Santiago and found about $6,911 in his car, police said. Once the car was taken to police headquarters, they found a hidden compartment inside the car that contained bags of fentanyl, crack cocaine, and cocaine. Costello is facing charges of trafficking in fentanyl and conspiracy to violate the controlled substance laws, police said. Fernandez-Santiago is facing charges of trafficking in fentanyl, conspiracy to violate the controlled substance laws, distribution of fentanyl, and possession to distribute cocaine."
About? That's pretty precise number.
"An online drug-tracking program aimed at curbing abuse of opioids and other prescription drugs is slated to launch Monday, but many health care providers still haven’t registered to use the system, prompting an urgent call to action Wednesday from the statewide physician’s association...."
The other drug:
Bard College sinks further into junk bond status
"A Yale-educated investment banker was convicted of insider trading charges Wednesday after a jury concluded he gave tips about mergers and acquisitions to his father, enabling over $1 million in illegal profits. Sean Stewart, 35, testified during the two-week Manhattan federal court trial, insisting he had no idea his father was sharing secrets with a broker to make trades ahead of public announcements on five separate deals that he oversaw while working at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Perella Weinberg partners LP. The father, Robert Stewart, was sentenced to one year of home detention after pleading guilty to an insider trading charge. Prosecutors said evidence, including the timing of pivotal meetings regarding the corporate deals and subsequent trades in securities by the father and communications between the father and son soon afterward, made it obvious the son tipped his father intentionally."
$mall fry Madoff.
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"Four Weymouth residents are facing charges after they allegedly beat a 21-year-old autistic man, kicking him in the face and hitting him with a bottle before stealing his cellphone and wallet, police said. Christopher Keeley, 21, and Tiago Teixeira, 19, were charged with unarmed robbery, assault and battery causing serious bodily harm, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and conspiracy, according to a Weymouth police report. Both men appeared Monday in Quincy District Court. Two women, an 18-year-old and a 19-year-old, were also charged. Their names were not released because they haven’t been arrested yet, police said. They will face the same charges as Keeley and Teixeira, police said...."
He should consider himself lucky; he wasn't sexually abused.
NDU:
"Fessenden School official on leave amid sexual misconduct allegation" by Travis Andersen Globe Staff June 21, 2017
An administrator at the prestigious Fessenden School, a private school for boys in Newton, was placed on leave in December and barred from campus amid an investigation into a former student’s allegation of sexual misconduct dating back to the 1990s, the headmaster said Tuesday.
The allegations against Kenneth Howe, the school’s residential life director, were disclosed by headmaster David B. Stettler in a letter to the Fessenden community. The message was obtained by the Globe.
Howe is a former math teacher who “categorically denies that any misconduct occurred.”
The disclosure comes after a Globe Spotlight series revealed that at least 67 private schools in New England, including Fessenden, have faced accusations since 1991 that staffers sexually abused or harassed more than 200 students.....
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