POLICE REVIVE NORWICH WOMAN
A Norwich woman is charged with three counts of risk of injury to a minor after being found in New London passed out behind the wheel of an idling motor vehicle. Police say 26-year old Cassidy Moniz was found near 10 Spring Street around 5 Thursday afternoon. She had to be revived with Narcan, and was then taken to Lawrence and Memorial Hospital for further treatment. Police say three children, between the ages of one to six years old, were also removed from the vehicle. Moniz was also charged with possession of marijuana. She’s out on bond and is due back in court July 21st. Police continue to investigate.
NL MAN SENTENCED
A New London man involved in a gang war over drug operations that ended in murder has been sentenced to a long prison term. U.S. Attorney for Connecticut Deidre Daly says 43-year-old Oscar Valentin will spend 16 years behind bars. Valentin operated a narcotics enterprise out of a series of garage bays on Walker Street in the Whaling City. In the summer of 2011, a hit was put out on Valentin by former members of his operation. Valenin turned the tables the next summer and 36-year-old Javier Reyes was stabbed to death at an apartment on Huntington Street. A jury couldn’t convict Valentin on Reyes’ death but in a deal with the feds, Valentin agreed to concede there was enough evidence to associate Reyes’ stabbing with Valentin’s drug enterprise. In exchange, prosecutors wouldn’t pursue a prison sentence against him of more than 19 and a half years.
LOCAL WOMAN NAMED TO PAROLE BOARD
A Groton woman has been nominated by Governor Dannel Malloy to the state board of pardons and paroles. Nancy Turner currently serves as the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Program Coordinator for Advanced Behavioral Health, Incorporated, and is also a member of the Governor’s Alcohol and Drug Policy Council. She’s also been a director with the State Coalition against Domestic Violence, and has previously worked in various administrative roles with the International Association of Chiefs of Police in Alexandria, Virginia.
MYSTIC AQUARIUM INVESTIGATING DEAD WHALE IN RI
JAMESTOWN, R.I. (AP) – Environmental officials have removed the carcass of a humpback whale that beached on the rocks at a Rhode Island state park. The state Department of Environmental Management said the 32-foot carcass found at Beavertail State Park in Jamestown last Friday has been transferred to an undisclosed location for examination and burial. Staff at Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut will be performing a necropsy to determine the cause of death. State officials said retrieval of the carcass wasn’t possible until Friday because of adverse weather conditions. The department said humpback whale sightings have increased recently in local waters thanks to an abundant food supply. The whales are protected under the federal Endangered Species and Marine Mammal Protection Acts and boats are required under law to stay a certain distance away from them.
