BARRINGTON — The police launched an intensive search for a stolen mail van Friday afternoon, only to discover that it had actually been “stolen” by the local postmaster in an attempt to teach a worker not to leave the keys in the van.

The police were not amused.

“I tied up my officers looking for a stolen mail van, which wasn’t stolen,” said Sgt. Thomas Poirier. Other communities had also been alerted to the apparent theft.

Poirier said if there had been a police pursuit it could have led to injuries. “We’re lucky a serious incident didn’t result from this.”

The search began around 1:05 p.m. when all units were dispatched to the area of Staples, where carrier Chris Damasso, 30, of 111 Hall St., East Providence, told the police that the truck had disappeared while he was putting mail in the boxes in front of the store.

The truck was later seen by the police on County Road returning to Staples.

Barrington Postmaster Steven Santilli, 43, of 201 Woodland Ave., North Providence, who had taken the truck, was unapologetic, saying there was no theft because it was his truck, and this was the policy used to teach employees a lesson, according to the report from Patrolman Dianne Pinto.

Pinto said yesterday she checked that assertion with officials at the main post office in Providence. “It’s definitely NOT their policy to do that.”

Santilli is known for being unconventional. In November, he dyed his hair pink for a day as part of a deal he made with his employees in return for their selling over $5,000 worth of Breast Cancer Awareness stamps.

In other police matters:

•A routine traffic stop just after 3 a.m. Sunday led to the arrested of Frank J. Florenzano, 52, of 83 Anoka Ave., on a felony drug charge.

The police said they found five bags of marijuana worth about $500, roaches, marijuana seeds in a separate bag, and nine tablets of Adderall, a prescription stimulant, in his car after it was stopped at Waseca Avenue and West Street because of a broken tail light.

•James Gnocchi, 18, of 325 Rumstick Rd., was arrested for disorderly conduct Sunday night after he allegedly used a CB/public address system in his truck to make sexual noises and lewd comments to passersby while he was parked at Barrington Town Beach.

The complaint came from a man who, with his mother, was walking a dog on the beach. At one point, Gnocchi announced that he was engaged in a sexual act. When two residents asked Gnocchi to stop, he allegedly threatened them with a tire iron.

The police pulled his truck over on Nayatt Road and found him with an 18-year-old woman from Heritage Road. He initially told Patrolman John Sgagliardich that he had not been at the beach, then acknowledge he was there for a little while.

The police said Gnocchi, a student at Barrington High School, alleged he had taken out the tire iron in self-defense after a man had approached him acting aggressively.

•A 17-year-old student at St. Andrew’s School was arrested Saturday night after the police found him and a fellow student to be intoxicated in the parking lot of CVS.

The student, whom police would not identify because of his age, was discovered when an officer was called to the scene. Both boys had trouble standing.

A 17-year-old Barrington girl had picked them up at the Presbyterian Church near the school and driven them into town before she realized her passengers were drunk. She stopped at the parking lot instead.

The student was arrested after he acknowledged that a book bag containing two water bottles was his. The bottles turned out to have alcohol.

He was taken to Hasbro Children’s Hospital after he began to dry heave in the back of the police car. He was released into the custody of his uncle.