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Rhode Island
Johnston neighbors react to major drug bust, firearm sweep
JOHNSTON, R.I. (WJAR) — Thousands of dollars’ worth of drugs and guns are now off the streets after a major bust by Rhode Island State Police.
Six people were arrested this week in connection to a high-level trafficking network throughout the Ocean State.
Johnston residents reacted to the major bust in their neighborhood.
“I’m shocked, I’m shocked,” Marcia Masse, a longtime Johnston resident said. “I didn’t think that kind of thing was around here.”
NBC 10 cameras captured local and state police conducting a search warrant on Shore Drive in connection to what police are calling a high-level narcotics and firearms distribution network.
Across the state, members of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force discovered $70,000 in cash, and thousands of dollars’ worth of fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine.
Investigators also seized two pistols and two semi-automatic assault rifles.
“It makes me a little uncomfortable. I didn’t think I’d ever leave her but makes me scratch my head and wonder – do I need to go somewhere else?” Masse said.
The Rhode Island State Police said all suspects were charged as co-defendants in a criminal conspiracy.
Hamlet Lopez was one of six to be arrested, who is a neighbor to those on Shore Drive.
Residents told NBC 10 he moved in two or three years ago.
He was known around town for throwing loud parties but nothing out of the ordinary.
“They had parties, birthday parties or whatever but nothing like you would expect to see,” Katherine Tata said. “It’s like you don’t know who your neighbors are. You never know.”
The neighbors are hoping to restore peace to their typically quiet community.
“It doesn’t make me feel safer that they got caught. just that it happened here is not really a comforting thing,” Masse said.
All of the suspects were arraigned this week and held without bail.
KILLINGLY, Conn. (WTNH) — A Rhode Island man has died after he crashed his pickup truck into a house Wednesday night in Killingly, according to Connecticut State Police.
State police said the 2023 GMC Sierra was traveling westbound on Route 101 in the area of Valley Road when it failed to negotiate a curve around 10:20 p.m. The truck left the roadway and struck mailboxes, a street sign, and a residential structure.
The driver, identified as Matthew James Sherman, 42, of Foster, was pronounced dead at the scene.
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Vehicle crashes into house on Route 101 in Killingly -
Vehicle crashes into house on Route 101 in Killingly
State police said the home sustained “catastrophic” damage. The front of the house was “destroyed,” according to the report, and the rest of the home had structural damage.
The house was searched by Urban Search and Rescue and found to be unoccupied at the time of the crash.
Route 101 between Chestnut Hill Road and Bailey Hill Road was closed for several hours, but reopened just before 5 a.m.
The Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Squad also assisted.
The crash remains under investigation.
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Above: The May 4, 2026, bell ringers, from left, Town Clerk Leigh Carney, Councilor Caryn Corenthal, Councilor Renu Englehart, Sen. Bridget Valverde, Councilor Mark Schwager, and Town Manager Andy Nota. It was 250 years ago Monday, May 4, that Rhode Island took the bold step of announcing its independence from England and the crown. Rhode […]
Which ‘Real Housewives of Rhode Island’ stars want to do Season 2?
Reporter Paul Edward Parker asks cast members of the “Real Housewives of Rhode Island” if they’re up for another season of the Bravo TV show.
Paul Edward Parker
It was in a Rhode Island court that “The Real Housewives of Rhode Island” heated up as a Cranston woman sued the husband of one of the cast members for slander.
The legal fireworks started April 13, when Brian Pontarelli, husband of “Real Housewife” star Rulla Nehme Pontarelli, sued Beth Walker of Cranston in Superior Court, alleging that she violated a confidentiality agreement in another lawsuit by “making public statements and social media posts” about facts related to the earlier lawsuit.
On Tuesday, May 5, Walker fired back, calling the confidentiality agreement illegal and unenforceable, saying that Pontarelli broke it first by talking on “Real Housewives,” and filing a countersuit saying that he made false, “defamatory and disparaging” comments on the “Real Housewives” main show, as well as during a podcast and an after-show live broadcast. She is seeking unspecified damages.
A past affair, current speculation and a national audience feed lawsuit
Walker particularly identifies the April 26 episode of “Watch What Happens Live,” when host Andy Cohen brings back stars from the show, which was taped last year, for further discussion. In this episode, Brian and Rulla talk about how their marriage has survived his cheating with another woman.
One of the subplots of “The Real Housewives of Rhode Island,” which is midway through its first season, is whether or not the affair Brian had is still ongoing. Texts and social media posts by an unnamed woman, whom the cast refers to as “the mistress,” feature in several episodes.
What Beth Walker has to say
Reached by The Providence Journal on Wednesday afternoon, May 6, Walker’s lawyer, Frank L. Orabona Jr., said that she can’t tell her side of the story right now.
“A public narrative has been created around my client, but narrative and facts are not always the same thing,” Orabona said. “As this unfolds, the evidence will tell a very different story.”
Post-show discussion and podcast fuel drama in court
In the April 26 “Watch What Happens Live” episode, in which Walker’s suit says Pontarelli “discussed a romantic relationship … in a defamatory and disparaging manner,” Rulla and Brian talk about his affair with “the mistress,” also referring to her as “the cockroach.”
Walker’s Tuesday filing also served as her answer to Pontarelli’s suit, and she asked the court to toss his claim based on 16 separate grounds.
Among other things, Walker’s filing says:
- “Walker’s speech relates to topics of public concern being discussed weekly to a nationwide audience of millions of viewers.”
- “Any comments made by Walker were truthful, not disparaging, related to matters in the public domain and/or were made in good faith.”
- “As a result of the national publicity of the show, information related to [Pontarelli’s] personal, romantic relationships is public knowledge nationally across the United States and locally in communities throughout Rhode Island; and is otherwise in the public domain.”
- “It is inequitable and unfair to allow [Pontarelli] a national platform to discuss topics to a coast-to-coast audience and prohibit Walker from speaking on the same topics and/or from correcting false information being spread by [Pontarelli] or others.”
- Prohibiting her from commenting would violate the state and federal constitutions’ guarantee of free speech.
No hearings have been scheduled in the case.
Pontarelli’s lawyer, Jessica L. Basso, declined to comment on the case.
This story has been updated with new information.
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