Teen in fatal crash to be tried as adult

PROVIDENCE — A Lincoln teenager whose car smashed into a tree in the town and killed one of his passengers a year ago must stand trial on felony reckless-driving charges as an adult in Superior Court.

Family Court Chief Judge Jeremiah S. Jeremiah Jr. made that decision yesterday, discounting pleas by the lawyer for Andrew T. Bessette, now 18, that his client was remorseful and would be better rehabilitated if his case remained in Family Court and any sentence were served in the state Training School for Youth.

Bessette is facing one count of driving to endanger, death resulting and one count of driving to endanger, serious injury resulting, for the Oct. 15, 2007, accident that killed his cousin Marissa Lorea and injured another passenger, Amanda Coderre.

Yesterday’s hearing was needed because Bessette is one of the so-called “gap kids.” The term refers to 17-year-olds charged with felonies during a four-month period in 2007 when state law required they be treated as adults in Superior Court, not as juveniles in Family Court. The law was repealed and in July the state Supreme Court ruled that 115 17-year-olds facing felony charges were entitled to Family Court hearings on whether their cases belonged in Superior Court.

— John Hill

Councilman’s court appeal challenged

James M. Mageau, acting president of the Charlestown Town Council, was found guilty last month of simple assault in a Town Hall confrontation and has decided to appeal the finding. But the attorney general’s office contends he can’t do it.

Mageau was ordered to obtain anger-management counseling, pay all court costs, stay away from the cameraman he batted away at Town Hall on July 14 and pay for damage to the man’s camera. But after finding Mageau guilty of the misdemeanor assault charge, District Court Judge William C. Clifton also agreed to file the case for one year, meaning it will be expunged if Mageau stays out of trouble during that time.

Based on that outcome, the attorney general’s office is arguing that Mageau has nothing to appeal.

“A filing is not a sentence,” said Michael J. Healey, an attorney general spokesman. “We’re saying there’s no grounds to file an appeal because there’s been no sentence imposed.”

The matter will be heard in Washington County Superior Court.

— Randal Edgar

Paroled murderer could finish sentence

WEST WARWICK — A convicted murderer has been sent back to prison as an alleged parole violator after he allegedly rode drunk in a car being driven Wednesday afternoon by his father.

Patrick J. Gaffney, 56, of 29 Morris Ave., Pawtucket, was charged with driving under the influence and operating with a suspended license.

His son, Wayne P. Ledoux, 35, was paroled in 2003 after serving nearly 10 years of a 40-year term for fatally stabbing a Mexican immigrant in 1991. He was arrested and returned to the state prison this week pending a hearing on the violation charge.

— Katie Mulvaney

N.J. man sentenced for money laundering

PROVIDENCE — A New Jersey man was sentenced yesterday to 2½ years in federal prison for taking delivery of a duffel bag containing more than $220,000 in drug-trafficking money in a South Kingstown parking lot last year.

Charlie Vu, 46, of Jersey City, N.J., was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Mary M. Lisi, according to U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente’s office.

Vu pleaded guilty in April to money laundering.

Prosecutor Mary E. Rogers said at the plea hearing that the government could show that, on May 11, 2007, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents trailed Vu’s Nissan Pathfinder from New Jersey to the restaurant parking lot, where he made a cell phone call and met with an unidentified man who gave him the duffel bag.

— Michael P. McKinney

A curfew for bouzouki

SMITHFIELD —There will still be live music at the Euro Café, but only until 10 p.m.

That decision was rendered Tuesday by the Town Council after residents of the nearby Orchard Meadows neighborhood complained that loud music was disturbing them in late evenings. Elia Nassios, owner of the Euro Café, said he could not understand how the music could have caused problems.

He said he employed two musicians, one of whom played keyboard, and the other the bouzouki, a Greek stringed instrument, and that the music was not overly amplified.

— Thomas J. Morgan

Campaign stresses HIV testing

While the number of new HIV cases among Latinas has stabilized in the past three years, figures show that the numbers are still disproportionate compared with rates in the general population.

The Health Department, Progreso Latino and MAP Alcohol and Drug Rehabilitation Services Inc. have been working together for the past week to raise awareness of the need for HIV testing.

Vinnie Velazquez, the program director for MAP, says the figure among Latinas is still high.

— Tatiana Pina

East Greenwich’s Sequino honored by RIPEC

East Greenwich Town Manager William Sequino Jr. is one of two recipients of the 2008 Robert M. Goodrich Distinguished Public Service Award from the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council.

Sequino, along with Michael O’Keefe, the House of Representatives’ fiscal adviser, were recognized during Wednesday’s annual meeting of RIPEC, a business-backed group that studies fiscal matters. The late Robert M. Goodrich, RIPEC’s first executive director, was an advocate for improving state and local public service.

— Lisa Vernon-Sparks