Man sentenced in Central Falls murder

CENTRAL FALLS — Twenty-year-old Anthony Strobert was sentenced to serve 27 years at the ACI yesterday after he pleaded guilty to murdering Helder Tomar, 19, of Pawtucket, last April.

Strobert was also given a concurrent sentence of 10 years to serve on one count of carrying a pistol without a license by Superior Court Judge Robert D. Krause, according to the attorney general’s office.

The shooting was the result of a fight in Jenks Park during which Strobert, formerly of 24 Mary St., suffered a gunshot wound to the back. The police complained at the time that their investigation had been hampered by witnesses who were evasive or refused to talk.

The deadly shooting was one of two that led to a curfew in Central Falls.

— C. Eugene Emery Jr.

Man to serve time for burning own house

SOUTH KINGSTOWN — A Superior Court judge has sentenced a Charlestown man to serve two years in prison and undergo alcohol-abuse counseling for setting his house ablaze and assaulting a police officer with his car in July of last year, authorities said yesterday.

Brett A. Perkins, 45, of 56 Charles Ave., was sentenced yesterday by Judge Bennett R. Gallo, who gave him concurrent 10-year sentences — the maximum, but with eight years suspended on each — for first-degree arson and felony assault. Perkins had pleaded no contest to both felony charges on Nov. 10.

On July 3, 2007, the police say, Perkins and his wife, Christine, were arguing inside their single-story brick home and the husband, who had been drinking, threatened to burn down the house. Christine Perkins left, the police said, and her husband doused the living room with gasoline and ignited it.

Perkins then drove off, the police said, but returned to watch firefighters battle the blaze. When police officers tried to get him out of his white 1993 Chevy Corsica, he put the car in reverse, striking an officer.

— Lisa Vernon-Sparks

Speed a factor in fatal Cranston crash

Excessive speed was a factor in a car crash on the Cranston-Providence line Thursday night that killed the driver and injured both passengers, the Cranston police said yesterday.

Kyron O. Lewis, 26, was northbound on Route 10 in his Jaguar shortly before 10:15 p.m. when the car struck the right-hand guardrail twice and the vehicle lost its right front wheel before heading down the exit ramp onto Niantic Avenue, said Cranston Maj. Ronald T. Blackmar. He was fatally injured when the car slammed into a pillar in front of Corp Brothers Inc., at 88 Niantic Ave., Blackmar said.

Injured in the crash were Victor Gonzales, 36, for whom the police had no permanent address, and Joselito Torres, 32, of Providence, Blackmar said.

Both men were still at Rhode Island Hospital yesterday — Gonzales in a coma and Torres recovering from surgery, Blackmar said.

The police did not have an address for Lewis, who is originally from Florida and had recently been living in Cranston, Blackmar said.

— Randal Edgar

Guilty plea entered in check-fraud scheme

Edward Marcelli, of Woonsocket, has pleaded guilty to orchestrating a check-fraud scheme in which he and others used bad checks to buy more than $280,000 worth of merchandise at stores in Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Three other defendants have pleaded guilty to their roles in the scheme.

U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente announced the guilty plea, which Marcelli entered in Providence yesterday before U.S. District Judge William E. Smith.

At the plea hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew J. Reich said the government could prove that, in 2004, Marcelli devised a scheme in which he and others opened bank accounts with false address information and minimal deposits, and then purchased goods with worthless checks.

To carry out the scheme, Marcelli provided his collaborators with leases listing fake addresses, they obtained identification documents with the addresses in the leases, opened bank accounts, typically with a deposit of $100 or less, and then bought merchandise with thousands of dollars in worthless checks.

Suneet Sharma, whose age and address were not available; Sterling Chapman, 47, of Augusta, Maine, and Michael Luchessi, 42, of Woonsocket, have pleaded guilty to participating in the fraud scheme. All are awaiting sentencing.

Marcelli admitted that, in June 2004, he drove with Sharma to a Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles office so Sharma could obtain a driver’s license, using a lease agreement that falsely represented that Sharma lived at an address in Connecticut. A few days later, Marcelli went with Sharma to a People’s Bank in Willimantic, Conn., and opened an account with a $100 deposit. They then went to retail stores in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island and purchased merchandise with 48 worthless checks totaling $80,256.

Marcelli, 32, of Third Avenue, Woonsocket, pleaded guilty to conspiracy. The maximum penalty is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He is free on bond pending sentencing, which is scheduled for April 17.

Sharma, Chapman and Luchessi have pleaded guilty to interstate travel to execute a fraudulent scheme. The maximum penalty is 10 years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000. They are also free on bond pending sentencing.

In September, a criminal complaint alleging fraud was filed against Marcelli’s wife, Paula Marcelli. The charges against her have not been resolved. She is accused of floating $49,372 in worthless checks to buy merchandise.

— Staff report