Rye Detectives responded to The Village of Portchester last week to pick a
local man on an arrest warrant. Nicholas Romanello was arrested by
Detectives Jake Chittenden and Charles Hunter after a warrant had been
issued for his arrest on an alleged past burglary. Upon his arrest,
Romanello was transported to Rye HQ for processing and to appear in front
of Rye City Judge Peter Lane. He was later transported to the Westchester
County jail in Valhalla where he is currently being held. Romanello has
upcoming court dates. Good work on this one by The Rye Detectives. I
will keep you posted on this when I am able to release more
details.................................

How about another warrant arrest since we're on the subject.??? Back in
February of 1998 I reported to you an incident were a jewelry currier was
held up and robbed at gunpoint by four armed men. A vehicle pursuit
ensued and two of the four were arrested by Rye and Portchester Police
units. Well, Rye Detectives working along with The NYPD's Queens Robbery
Squad, The FBI and DEA arrested a Frank Torres in Queens during the second
week of September. Torres is charged with being one of the persons
involved in the jewelry currier robbery. A third person involved in the
robbery is believed to have been murdered. That's all I can comment on at
this time. I will give you more details when at a later date when we are
able to release them..... Once again hats of to the Rye Detectives on this
one.............................................

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Time to break it up a little. Lets go to a stolen vehicle report. A Rye
resident reported to police that his 1993 Honda Accord was stolen from the
parking lot at Cedar Street and Purchase Street sometime during the day on
the 9th. The resident stated he parked the car at the lot at 645 AM and
when he returned at 1030 at night it was missing. A police report was
filed and the information was logged into the NYSPIN computer............

Another stolen vehicle was reported to Rye police on the 10th. White
Plains Police reported to Rye police that a van belonging to New England
Linen of Nursery Lane, had fled the scene of a burglary in White Plains
at about 2 AM. Rye Police responded to New England Linen and found that
one of the vans had been stolen from the lot that abuts I/95. Personnel
of the company responded and filed a stolen vehicle report with the Rye
Police. Rye Detectives have it and are following up on these and other
crimes....

As I've alluded to in the past, "It's always great when we get one back."
Rye Police recovered a stolen vehicle in the CVS parking lot on Route One
back on the 12th. While on patrol Officer Julio Rossi came upon the
vehicle parked in the rear of the lot and upon checking the registration
of the car it was reported back as stolen. The vehicle was towed to the
police impound yard and processed for evidence. The owner was notified of
the recovery and will pick up the vehicle after the processing is
done.............................

A Stamford man was the guest of the Rye Police courtesy of Officer Paul
Kenny on the 13th. Camejo Nelson was arrested on Midland Avenue at 330
in the afternoon after Kenny stopped him for alleged traffic violations. 
Upon speaking to the defendant Officer Kenny noticed an odor of an
alcoholic beverage on his breath. After conducting a field investigation
the suspect was placed under arrest for DWI and transported to Rye HQ for
processing. Nelson posted 150.00 and has upcoming court
dates...........................................

Lets move it up a couple of notches and go to a story of importance. On
the 22nd of September the City of Rye was hit by 3 burglaries and one
attempted burglary. The attempt was on Grandview Avenue. The burglars
attempted to gain entry by cutting a screen on the first floor. Once the
screen was cut the would-be burglars were driven off by an audible burglar
alarm. The next two burglaries occurred on Elizabeth Street. A basement
office was entered by the creeps smashing a window. Once inside a desk
was forced open and cash was removed from it. The low-lifes then went
upstairs and broke into a second floor apartment. The apartment was
heavily ransacked and it is unknown if anything was taken. Now, the last
burg occurred on Wapponocca Avenue. Access was gained to the home once
again by smashing a basement window. Once inside the persons responsible
attempted to break down an interior door that led to the main part of the
home but were unsuccessful. The only description we have at this time is
two white or Hispanic males, about 19-23 years old with thin builds. In
this day and age we need to keep the doors locked and the alarms
on.............................................

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A Toyota land cruiser was stolen from in front of 61 Purchase street on
the 15th. Apparently the keys were left in the vehicle at the time of the
theft. The vehicle was however recovered a short time later in The
Village of Mamaroneck after it was involved in a motor vehicle accident.
Unfortunately the car was not reported stolen until after the accident. 
No arrests have been made at this time. When I hear anything more I'll
let you know ....................................................

Since we're on Purchase Street lets take a walk over to # 15. The owner
of the building reported to police that the front window of the
establishment was shot out by The BB Gun Vandal. Apparently the idiot
struck sometime overnight on the 15th. Police logged the complaint and
will give the area extra patrol as time and manpower
allow........................................

The squad 4 boys responded to a report of a vehicle that struck a pole in
the early morning of the 16th. It appears that the vehicle slid on the
pavement during the last hours of hurricane Floyd and struck a Con Edison
utility pole in front of the Rye Golf Club. Once on the scene Rye Police
Officer Tim Chittenden radioed HQ that the operator fled the scene on
foot. Upon further investigating it was reveled that the car had been
stolen earlier in the evening from a Stamford man in Stamford. The
vehicle was towed to the police impound yard for evidence processing. A
search of the area yielded negative results for the operator of the
car...................................

Fallen trees, live wires down and property damaged were some of the calls
that Rye Police responded to during Hurricane Floyd. We did however get
off pretty easy considering the magnitude of the storm and by the damage
it caused in nearby communities. Extra manpower was brought in by Rye
Police to help handle the amount of storm related calls as well as public
works personnel. The FD was kept busy also by responding to storm related
things and by assisting residents who's basements went under water and
other things of that nature. I witnessed the storm firsthand and my hat
goes off to my fellow officers here as well as public works personnel and
last but certainly not least the Rye FD. Jim Dianni and his guys to a
great job and are always there when you need
them...............................

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10,000.00 worth of silver items were reported stolen from a Greenhaven
residence on the 17th. Apparently an unknown person or persons removed
the property from the residence sometime in the last few months. Rye
detectives have the case and are following up on it...........

If you have any questions, suggestions or comments we'd love to hear from
you. You can reach us by E-mailing to our new E-mail address you see on
your screen which is, PDNews@ryepd.ryeny.gov or you can write to Rye
Police News of the Week, C/O City of Rye Police department, 21 3rd Street
Rye NY 10580. If you don't feel like E-mailing or writing just grab me
when you see me around. Remember it is your input that helps us deliver a
better product not only on our program but as police officers as
well................................

To a robbery complaint. A resident was on the train platform when a male
Hispanic, short dark hair wearing a sports type jersey with "Players" on
the front, dark baggy pants and a military style hat approached him and
asked for any spare change. When the complainant went to hand the perp a
dollar bill the suspect grabbed all the money from the victim and fled down
the platform. Rye, Portchester and Metro North units responded and
searched the area to no avail. The investigation was turned over to the
Metro North police for further. Got to watch yourselves out there. 
These days you can't be to careful. Fortunately no one was
hurt..................................................

How about another driving charge story. ?? While on routine patrol on
the 18th, Officer Mike Kenny stopped a Stamford man for alleged driving
charges. Upon speaking to the defendant Officer Kenny ascertained that
his privilege to drive in NY State was suspended. The suspect was placed
under arrest and his car was towed. He was released on 50.00 and will
appear in Rye Court. The suspect was identified as Angel Soto of Stamford
CT. Bad-Bing, Bada-Boom.............................

Medical documents, CDs, a cell phone, clothing and books were reported as
stolen after a Grace Church Street woman reported to police that her 1996
Acura was stolen on the 19th. The items were in her car at the time and
the total value of the items is about 2000.00. The vehicle is valued at
over 10,000.00..........................

A routine traffic stop led to the arrest of a Rye woman on the 19th.
Margaret Raspiller was arrested for alleged traffic violations by Officer
Jeffery Golanec after being stopped for having no front plate on her
vehicle. A NY State NYSPIN check of the vehicles registration reveled that
it was suspended in NY State. Upon inventorying the vehicle, a wallet was
found belonging to a Greenwich CT woman. Further investigation revealed
that the wallet had been reported stolen from a business in Greenwich on
the 10th. Raspiller was charged with possession of stolen property 7th
degree and has some explaining to do in Rye City Court...........

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Lastly. A family member of mine was involved in an motor vehicle accident
two weeks ago. Rye Police Officers Paul Kenny and Al Lombardo responded to
the scene and took care of everything. At this time on behalf of my
family I would like to thank you guys for all that was done and for the
excellent care my aunt received during this very stressful incident. 
Thank you........................................................

Anyway. We have much more to cover on our next program so keep tuning in
and keep up the comments, suggestions and the E-mails. For now, that's
all there is there is no more. Lets all work together to make Rye a safe
place to live and work. Keep an eye out for one another and report any
suspicious activity you see to The Rye Police. For Police Commissioner
William A. Pease and The City of Rye police, this is Gary L. Olivier
saying, take care be safe and we'll see you next
time........................................................