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RI man tried smuggling 22 pounds of heroin into Canada via kayak. Now he’s heading to prison

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RI man tried smuggling 22 pounds of heroin into Canada via kayak. Now he’s heading to prison



Freddy Rodriguez was planning to use a kayak to rendezvous with a boat on Lake Champlain, according to court records

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  • Freddy Rodriguez, 40, of West Warwick, was sentenced to 57 months in prison for attempting to smuggle heroin into Canada, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont.
  • Border Patrol agents apprehended Rodriguez near Lake Champlain as he prepared to kayak 10 kilograms of heroin to a waiting boat, the U.S. attorney’s office said.
  • Rodriguez was caught with the heroin, and his truck, which contained a hidden compartment, was seized, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

BURLINGTON, VT – A Rhode Island man who tried smuggling heroin into Canada via kayak on Lake Champlain was sentenced to 57 months in prison on Monday, July 21, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont.

Freddy Rodriguez, 40, of West Warwick, previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to export heroin from the United States to Quebec, Canada, in September 2023, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

According to court records, Rodriguez had rented a house near Lake Champlain’s Missisquoi Bay in Highgate, Vermont, about 1½ miles from the border and was planning to deliver 10 kilograms of heroin to a power boat that had motored south from Canada when Border Patrol agents foiled the plan.

At about 12:05 a.m. Sept. 19, 2023, Border Patrol agents were hiding in the brush around a property on Duck Point Road “to observe possible illicit maritime traffic” when they saw a man later identified as Rodriguez “carrying what appeared to be at least one small bag,” Border Patrol Agent Brian Wilda said in an affidavit.

Rodriguez sat down on the beach and appeared to make and receive several phone calls, Wilda wrote.

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Meanwhile, at about 1:45 a.m., the Border Patrol agents received word from their communications dispatch center that a boat had been detected via remote surveillance equipment traveling south on Lake Champlain across the border, Wilda wrote.

The boat continued south until reaching the area where they were watching Rodriguez “and made a sharp turn to the east (toward shore),” although the agents couldn’t see any running lights on the vessel, Wilda wrote.

“As the vessel turned east, agents observed the male subject on the beach remove objects from one bag and place them into another bag,” Wilda wrote. “The male subject then began to drag a kayak from the beach to the water, facing the direction from which the vessel was approaching.”

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That’s when the Border Patrol agents ran from the woods and confronted Rodriquez.

“The subject attempted to abscond by running, but after approximately 40 feet he tripped, fell, and dropped the bag he was carrying,” Wilda wrote. “Agents detained the male subject and seized the bag, walking both back up to the property located above the shoreline.”

“Upon reaching property, the subject was met by additional agents arriving from other vantage points,” Wilda wrote. “I and other agents immediately recognized the detained subject as Freddy Rodriguez, an individual known to us from previous marijuana-smuggling events we had investigated in New Hampshire, in the far eastern portion of the Swanton Sector.”

Laboratory testing later showed that Rodriguez was carrying about 10 kilograms, or more than 22 pounds, of heroin, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

“Based on text messages recovered from Rodriguez’s phone, he appeared to have expected to receive a large quantity of cash and MDMA (ecstasy) in exchange for the controlled substances he was attempting to deliver,” the U.S. attorney’s office said.

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Agents also searched and seized Rodriguez’s Ford F150 truck, which was later found to have “a sophisticated locking trap – a void used for secretly transporting large quantities of drugs or currency – under the truck’s rear seats, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

Because of poor weather, the agents weren’t able to stop the boat.

Chief U.S. District Judge Christina Reiss also sentenced Rodriguez to three years of supervised release after his prison term.



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Rhode Island

Silver Alert issued for missing man in Cumberland, RI

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Silver Alert issued for missing man in Cumberland, RI


Police in Cumberland, Rhode Island, issued a Silver Alert for a missing 83-year-old man they say is endangered.

John “Jack” Thornhill was last seen around 7:30 a.m. Thursday at his home in the Branch Avenue neighborhood, police said. He is believed to have left on foot.

Thornhill is described as having white hair and brown eyes with glasses.

When he was last seen, Thornhill was wearing a red sweatshirt, grey gym shorts and Crocs.

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Anyone with information is asked to call 401-333-2500 or dial 911.



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Rhode Island’s TF Green airport to add flights to Cabo Verde in May – The Boston Globe

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Rhode Island’s TF Green airport to add flights to Cabo Verde in May – The Boston Globe


“The return of this service is a meaningful addition to PVD’s non-stop portfolio, which is now at 39 destinations,” Iftikhar Ahmad, president and CEO of the Rhode Island Airport Corporation, said in a statement. “Rhode Island has one of the strongest Cabo Verdean communities in the United States, and this service creates a direct, convenient connection between families, cultures, and economies.”

Initial operations of the year-round flight will include a Monday afternoon arrival in Rhode Island with an immediate return flight to Cabo Verde, according to the airport.

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“The airline is also evaluating the addition of a second weekly frequency later in 2026, which would further expand access for both leisure travelers and the Cabo Verdean community and position PVD as a key U.S. gateway to the archipelago,” the airport said.

According to officials, additional schedule details and booking information will be released by TACV Cabo Verde Airlines in the coming weeks.

Breeze Airways began offering service to Cancun, Mexico, earlier this year, restoring international service in Rhode Island after BermudAir concluded a short-lived, twice-weekly direct flight last summer.

When the Cancun service was announced in September, it was described as an eight-week trial route that was expected to conclude in mid-April 2026.

In an email on Thursday, Ryne Williams, a spokesperson for Breeze, confirmed the nonstop service ends on Saturday but will return on Dec. 19.

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This story has been updated to include comment from Ryne Williams.


Christopher Gavin can be reached at christopher.gavin@globe.com.





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R.I. grandparents fighting for visits with 4-year-old granddaughter rest their case – The Boston Globe

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R.I. grandparents fighting for visits with 4-year-old granddaughter rest their case – The Boston Globe


Naso’s in-laws, Dr. Siavash Ghoreishi and Dr. Jila Khorsand, took him to Family Court in July 2024, three months after their daughter, Shahrzad “Sherry” Naso, died from metastasized breast cancer.

Naso had refused to let them see Laila, their only grandchild of their only daughter, saying he wasn’t comfortable with their behavior and was alarmed by their medical care of Sherry and Laila.

Scott Naso and his daughter, Laila, in their Portsmouth, R.I., home.Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff

The retired physicians used a little-known state law that allows grandparents whose children have died or divorced to petition the Family Court for the right to visit with their grandchildren.

It’s led to a bitter trial that began in October and has continued off and on over the last six months, with testimony about medical negligence, abuse, and control.

Naso, a Middletown narcotics detective, accuses his in-laws of prescribing dozens of medications and providing poor medical care, which he believes contributed to Sherry’s death and sickened Laila. Ghoreishi and Khorsand deny any wrongdoing.

“We love that child with every fabric of our beings and have never harmed her in any way or shape,” Khorsand testified in October. “I love that child to death and would never do anything to harm her. … Why would she be deprived of this love?”

Naso has argued that the expense of the trial and the state law allowing grandparents to sue parents for visitation violates his constitutional parental rights.

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But Gill said on Monday that the state law was “narrowly tailored” to respect the constitutional rights of parents, and he denied Naso’s motions to dismiss or stay the ongoing trial.

Now that Michael Ahn, the lawyer for Ghoreishi and Khorsand, has rested his case, Naso’s lawyer will argue that the grandparents haven’t met their burden under the law and the case should be dismissed.

Veronica Assalone told the judge that she will argue for the dismissal on Thursday.

If her motion is denied, and the Supreme Court justices reject the emergency motion, the trial proceedings will resume, with at least a dozen witnesses expected to testify on Naso’s behalf.

On Wednesday, the court heard more testimony from Cheryl Allspach, the former longtime office manager for Ghoreishi’s pediatric practice and a close friend of the family. She had testified glowingly on Tuesday about Ghoreishi and Khorsand’s relationship with Laila.

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She also testified about Ghoreishi’s recordkeeping at his practice and his medical treatment of Scott, Sherry, and Laila Naso, and explained the process for billing and filing for insurance claims.

Assalone questioned her about Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island’s payment policy, since 2009, regarding self-treatment and treatment of immediate family members. The insurer’s policy follows the American Medical Association code of ethics, which warns physicians not to treat or prescribe medications for themselves and close family members, and does not cover those services.

Allspach read the two-page policy aloud for the court. “Why did you bill?” the judge asked when she concluded.

“I just did it as part of normal billing, and truly I didn’t realize that,” Allspach said. “If I realized, I would have said to [Ghoreishi], ‘you cannot treat your family members.’”

The judge quickly stopped more detailed questions about billing practices, chart-keeping, and whether Allspach was aware that it was a felony for physicians to prescribe narcotics to relatives.

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“It’s a grandparent visitation case, not a medical malpractice case,” Gill snapped at Assalone. He added that she should take her claims about illegal prescriptions to the state police, “not here.”

Julie Emmer, the owner of Strengthening Family Foundations, testified that Naso had alleged “serious things” about his in-law’s medical care when she was handling the supervised visits between Laila and Ghoreishi and Khorsand.

Emmer testified that Naso told her “there were prescriptions in different names for his late wife” and that his in-laws were being investigated by the US Drug Enforcement Administration and the state police.

“He thought they shouldn’t have visits,” Emmer said. “He thought they were responsible for what happened to his wife.”

Emmer began supervising visits in September 2024, after then-Family Court Judge Debra DiSegna temporarily ordered one-hour supervised visits every other week. The visits continued until late January 2025 and were suspended after Naso filed a complaint with the Department of Children, Youth, and Families. The investigation was closed, but Naso has refused to resume visits.

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Emmer supervised nine visits, all at public places, and performed a home inspection at the grandparents’ condo in Jamestown at Ahn’s request in December 2023. They wanted to visit with Laila at their home, but Naso refused, Emmer said, and he is the custodial parent.

Emmer testified that the grandparents abided by the court order not to give Laila any gifts or medication.

Khorsand played with the little girl, while Ghoreishi stayed in the background, filming them or taking pictures, Emmer said. (Some of the photos and videos have been entered as evidence in the trial.)

Emmer said she noticed over time that Laila was anxious at the start of the visits and said she didn’t want to go. During one visit, she said, Laila whispered to her over and over “they are bad people.” At another visit, Laila was late because she vomited on the way over, she said.

She told the court that Laila would eventually warm up to her grandparents.

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Emmer said she saw Naso crying and shaking, but that he was careful to compose himself so Laila didn’t see him becoming emotional. She testified that she didn’t hear him make any derogatory comments about his in-laws in Laila’s presence.

She said that Laila was reluctant to leave her father during the visits, but he encouraged her to go. “He often made comments, ‘Go have fun with Miss Julie. You’ll be safe,’” she said.


Amanda Milkovits can be reached at amanda.milkovits@globe.com. Follow her @AmandaMilkovits.





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