6 arrested in Woonsocket drug sting

The Woonsocket police arrested six adults in three apartment buildings on Diamond Hill Road at 5 a.m. yesterday, capping a drug investigation that began in November.

Detective Lt. Eugene Jalette said the police began watching the Walnut Hill Apartments after receiving calls from a property manager and tenants reporting suspicious activity.

Two of those arrested yesterday are charged in the January attack on a 51-year-old man who was hospitalized after being kidnapped, tied up, stabbed, beaten and robbed of $600. The man, who initially refused to cooperate with investigators, eventually told the police he owed $2,600 in drug money to one of his assailants, Jalette said.

Carter Thomas, 31, and Stephanie Lavallee, 25, both of 2305-D Diamond Hill Rd, face charges including conspiracy and robbery in the kidnapping. Thomas also is charged with a weapons count and Lavalle also faces a charge of possession of crack cocaine with intent to deliver.

The third person charged in the January attack, Ernest Shelton, 23, was arrested Feb. 24 on a domestic assault charge and is being held at the Adult Correctional Institutions.

Also arrested yesterday:

•Roxanne Pare, 35, of 2029-A Diamond Hill Rd., possession of crack cocaine with intent to deliver and a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge.

•Jeremi Mills, 21, Audrey Lavoie, 27, and Laurie Lavoie, 25, all of 2229-A Diamond Hill Rd; each faces a misdemeanor marijuana charge. Mills was also charged with violating terms of bail.

Also taken into custody, the police said, was a 15-year-old boy who was wanted for failure to make a Family Court appearance.

When the police raided the apartments they found a total of 11 children, 7 of them in the apartment shared by Thomas and Lavallee. The children were placed in state custody.

— Donita Naylor

Tentative ID of body found in W. Greenwich

PROVIDENCE –– The state medical examiner’s office has tentatively identified a body found Saturday in the Big River Management Area in West Greenwich as that of Gerald G. Cox, who has been missing since 2006.

Annemarie Beardsworth., spokeswoman for the Department of Health, said yesterday that the identification was based on circumstantial information. She said the Department of Health is working with law enforcement officials to try to confirm the identity.

The West Warwick police said Cox, 44, was last seen leaving his place of employment on Comstock Parkway in Cranston on June 2, 2006. His truck was found abandoned on Division Road, off Route 95, in the management area in West Greenwich. The police said he had last lived in West Warwick.

— Thomas J. Morgan