Crime

Amesbury Man Hurls Obscenities at Haverhill Police as They Arrest Him for Third OUI at Liquor Store

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A 54-year-old Amesbury man was arrested by Haverhill Police this week, charged with his third drunken driving offense after Patrolman Zachary Bouchard smelled an odor of alcohol and found him stumbling outside of Bradford’s Academy Liquors. Police were dispatched to the South Main Street liquor store just before 6 p.m. June 30 after a concerned citizen called to report Christopher Shirling stumbling as he exited a red pickup truck in the parking lot, believing the guy was “drunk.”

Officer Bouchard, with the assistance of Officer Katelyn Tully, spoke to Shirling and smelled alcohol on Shirling before asking him to submit to a series of field sobriety tests. According to Bouchard, Shirling “became visibly angry…and shouted “That’s a hard test! Let’s see you do it!” before losing his balance and almost completely falling over. When given the chance to retake the test without his flip-flips on, Shirling declined, telling Bouchard “I’m done taking your stupid tests.”

When Bouchard told Shirling he was being arrested, he shouted, ‘Oh, no you’re not!” and began to resist Bouchard, Tully and Officer Justin Graham, who joined in in an effort to take him to the ground.

Crime

Accused Schena Murderer’s Haverhill Criminal Past Includes Arrests for Drugs, Passing Fake Money

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In the nine months before Haverhill’s Leedell Graham was arrested for the murder of former Groveland building inspector Patsy Schena, Haverhill Police picked him up on two separate occasions for dealing cocaine and passing a counterfeit $100 bill, WHAV can exclusively reveal. While living on Beach Street in the city’s Mount Washington neighborhood, Graham was sentenced to six months behind bars after trying to use a fake $100 bill to purchase a “Natty Daddy” beer and Game Green Cigars at Riley’s Corner Market. According to Haverhill Police Officer Justin Graham (no relation), Graham said he found the bill while walking to the market. The eagle-eyed clerk knew right away it was a fake. “The bill was of poor quality and the average person upon seeing the numerous Chinese symbols and inaccuracies of the counterfeit bill, as well as the feel of the paper, could tell the bill was counterfeit,” Officer Graham said in his police report from the incident on Sept.

Crime

PHOTOS: Area Police Investigating Gas Station Break-Ins Across Merrimack Valley

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Local police are investigating a series of gas station break-ins over the last week they say were allegedly committed by the same suspects. Earlier this week, Lawrence Police issued a social media plea for help to locate two suspects they say allegedly used a crow bar to pry open the door of the Gulf gas station at 233 Winthrop Ave. and take the cash register and lottery tickets just before 4 a.m. on June 28. According to police, the suspects drove a blue Dodge caravan. Methuen Police Chief Joseph E. Solomon tells WHAV the same suspects are sought in connection to a break-in at the Haverhill Street Mobil station around 3 a.m. that same day.

Crime

In Wake of Schena Murder, Police Chief Gillen Calls Groveland a ‘Wonderful Place to Live’

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As Groveland neighbors continue to reel from the June 21 murder of beloved former building inspector Patsy Schena, Police Chief Jeffrey Gillen tells WHAV it was an isolated incident that should not cause concern for the community at large. Speaking in a press conference Friday alongside Essex County District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett and the team of local and state law enforcement officials that helped capture Schena’s accused killer, 48-year-old Haverhill man Leedell Graham, Gillen said the town’s first murder in nearly 30 years has bent but will not break the town of 6,800. “Groveland remains a safe community and we, the members of Groveland Police, work every day to make sure it remains that way,” Gillen said. “As a community, we will stay strong to rebuild and continue to work together to make this a wonderful place to live.”

As WHAV previously reported, Cedar Street’s Graham was taken into custody Thursday night just before 9 p.m. by Haverhill Police at his home on a warrant out of Groveland and booked at the Haverhill Police station by Det. Sean Scharneck on a single count of murder.

Crime

Police Arrest Haverhill Residents as Part of Multi-State DEA Drug Trafficking Ring

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Haverhill Police Thursday arrested several city residents in the culmination of a multi-state, joint cross-border drug trafficking investigation, the New Hampshire Deputy Attorney General’s office confirmed to WHAV. Bernardo Guerreo, Ramon Muniz and Sayra Miguelina Ramirez Cruz, all of 18 Observatory Ave., were among those booked by Haverhill Police narcotics detective Matthew Woodman, according to a Haverhill Police arrest log. Guerrero faces one count of conspiracy to violate drug laws, while Muniz and Ramirez Cruz must answer to one count each of being a fugitive from justice. Haverhill 24-year-old Valeria Vanessa Cartagena Toro was also arrested on a charge of conspiracy to sell fentanyl, police said. They were taken into custody following the execution of a series of search warrants in Haverhill, Lawrence, Bedford and Ashland, N.H. All told, seven individuals were taken into charged with a variety of drug-related offenses.

Crime

Haverhill Man Knew, Allegedly Used Lamp to Kill Groveland’s Schena: Police

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The 48-year-old Cedar Street man arrested and charged with murdering former Groveland building inspector Patsy Schena is said to have known the 82-year-old through “business dealings” not related to Schena’s town position, police told WHAV Friday, just hours before Graham answered to the murder charge in Haverhill District Court. At a press conference Friday morning, Essex County District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett and Groveland Police Chief Jeffrey Gillen told WHAV the medical examiner declared Schena’s June 21 death to be the result of “blunt and sharp force trauma.”

Later Friday morning when Schena’s alleged killer Leedell Graham appeared before Haverhill District Court First Justice Stephen Abany, it was revealed that police believe Graham used a lamp from Schena’s Governors Road home to kill him. According to a police report read into the court record by Assistant District Attorney John DePaulo, Graham was seen on public and private surveillance cameras walking from Haverhill into Groveland and into Schena’s home at 4:16 p.m. Schena arrived home at 4:23 p.m. and a call to Groveland Police came in just before midnight. A forensic investigation done by Groveland Police Saturday morning determined he was killed Friday night. As Graham’s girlfriend audibly sobbed from the courtroom gallery, DePaulo detailed how a bag of items dumped near Schena’s home further linked him to the crime.

Crime

Haverhill Man Arrested for ‘Brutal’ Murder of Groveland Building Inspector Schena

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A 48-year-old Cedar Street man was arrested Thursday night by Groveland Police for the “shocking and brutal” murder of Groveland building inspector Patsy Schena. Police Chief Jeffrey Gillen and Essex County District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett confirmed the arrest Friday morning. Leedell Graham was taken into custody at his home at 52 Cedar St., at 9:30 p.m. and booked at the Groveland police station before being held overnight at the Middleton House of Correction, Blodgett’s spokeswoman Carrie Kimball told WHAV in a statement. He is expected to be arraigned in Haverhill District Court Friday morning on one count of murder. “We appreciate the public’s patience,” Gillen said.

Crime

No Bail for Haverhill Man Who Stole Tools, Sold Them to Undercover Detectives Online

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A 35-year-old Haverhill man has spent the last month behind bars in a court-ordered detox program after allegedly taking power tools from a Stevens Street business and selling them to undercover Haverhill Police detectives on an internet resale site. Jeffrey Beaulieu was sent to a 28-day detox program after Rice and Brouillard Electric owner Phil Rice discovered company vans had been “ransacked” overnight and several tools went missing on May 29. Surveillance video initially linked Beaulieu to the break-ins, and later on May 29, the owner’s son and coworkers also identified their stolen tools on the “OfferUp” app. According to a police report filed by Detective Kevin Portnoy, the owner’s son noticed the items were his because labeled his tools with his initials and he located the markings in photos of the items that were posted. Beaulieu listed his own name as the seller of the tools on the app and provided a current profile picture that matched surveillance footage from the night of the break-in, police said.