N. Providence father, son facing drug charges

NORTH PROVIDENCE — The police arrested a father and son on drug and other charges Thursday night, claiming the pair opened up their Clark Street home as a place where people could smoke marijuana.

Following an investigation and complaints of drug activity, the police searched the home at 8 Clark St. in North Providence Thursday night and arrested Richard Vieira, 57, and his 21-year-old son, Jared Vieira, both listed at that residence.

The Vieras are scheduled for arraignment in District Court, Providence, on a felony charge of maintaining a common nuisance and other drug-related and gun charges, according to the police.

The police said they found “blunts and debris in the residence” that led to the charge of maintaining a common nuisance, police Maj. Paul M. Martellini said.

Richard Vieira is also charged with a felony possession of a dangerous weapon while committing a crime of violence and a misdemeanor, simple possession of marijuana, Martellini said.

Jared Vieira is also charged with the felony possession of a narcotic, in this case, Clonazepam, Martellini said.

— Kate Bramson

Man shot during fight outside city nightclub

PROVIDENCE — A 22-year-old man from Marblehead, Mass., who tried to help an acquaintance in a fight outside a nightclub in Washington Park, was shot in the leg early yesterday morning, according to the police.

Resean Akil Smith was treated at Rhode Island Hospital for a non-life-threatening wound to his thigh, police Maj. Thomas F. Oates III said.

Officers responded to a call of a disturbance at 1 a.m. at the nightclub Platinum at 1206 Broad St. and saw people lying on the ground and others running away, Oates said. There had been a fight, he said, and one of the people on the ground was Smith.

When the club closed for the night, Smith said, a large fight broke out in front of the building. He told the police that somebody he knows was being beaten by a group of individuals and that he went to help. As he grabbed a man who was on top of a pile of fighters, he was shot, he said. Oates said there will be a criminal investigation, and the matter will probably be referred to the city Board of Licenses for a possible sanction.

There was no security detail at the club, according to Oates.

— Gregory Smith

Stabbing investigation under way in Pawtucket

PAWTUCKET — The Pawtucket police are investigating a double stabbing that occurred Thursday night just before 9 at 26 Foster St.

Joseph Marfeo, 27, was treated for a stab wound to his left side at Rhode Island Hospital. Marfeo’s injures were not considered life threatening, according to the police.

Marfeo’s cousin Jarred Read, 22, who lives at the Foster Street apartment, received treatment for a superficial cut after he was arrested on an unrelated weapons charge.

— Projo.com staff writer Maria Armental

Mass. man sentenced for R.I. robberies

PROVIDENCE — A Massachusetts man was sentenced yesterday to more than five years in federal prison for a rash of Rhode Island bank and drugstore robberies.

David R. Cahill, 32, received 63 months in prison from Judge Mary M. Lisi in U.S. District Court, Providence, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s office. He was also ordered to pay $71,230 in restitution to robbery victims.

Cahill pleaded guilty in August to seven counts of robbery: two at banks for cash and five at drug stores, where he took oxycodone after brandishing what appeared to be a handgun, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.

Prosecutor Zechariah Chafee said that the government could show Cahill robbed:

•Bank of America on Bald Hill Road, Warwick, on May 29, 2007, where he took $7,538.

•Bank of America on Washington Highway, Lincoln, on June 7, 2007, where he took $2,361.

•Brooks Pharmacy on Mineral Spring Avenue, North Providence, on June 16, 2007, where he stole oxycodone after brandishing a gun that later turned out to be a BB pistol.

•CVS Pharmacy on Park Avenue, Cranston, on June 22, 2007, where he took oxycodone at gunpoint.

•The same CVS Pharmacy on Park Avenue on Dec. 12, 2007, where he again obtained oxycodone at gunpoint.

•CVS Pharmacy on Reservoir Avenue, Cranston, two times last year — Jan. 6 and Feb. 12 — where he took oxycodone at gunpoint.

The FBI arrested Cahill at his Mendon, Mass., home.

Cahill confessed to most of the robberies and evidence linked him to others, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. Cahill also confessed to other robberies committed at a drugstore in Bellingham, Mass., and a bank in Groton, Conn.

— Projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney