BENCH WARRANTS

Around 9 a.m., Oct. 5, Warwick Police Officer Aaron L. Steere saw a vehicle exit the UPS facility at 150 Plan Way, without a front registration plate.

He conducted a traffic stop on Jefferson Boulevard, just north of Service Road.

After talking to the occupants, he identified the driver as Christian Duran, 27, of 7 Golini Drive, Johnston. Police allege Duran was driving with a suspended license. Police said Duran had two prior convictions for Driving on Suspended License, making this third offense a misdemeanor.

A passenger in the vehicle, the driver’s brother, Henry Duran, 25, of 7 Golini Drive, Apt. 224, Johnston, was found to have two active District Court warrants. According to Warwick Police, one of the warrants was out of Third Disrict Court, and the other out of Sixth, both for Failure to Appear.

Both Christian and Henry Duran were transported to Warwick Police Headquarters. Christian Duran was charged with Driving on Suspended License (third offense) and later released with a Third District Court date of Nov. 1.

Henry Duran was later transported to Third District Court to answer for the two court warrants. Their vehicle was towed from the scene.

DUI

Around 8:45 p.m., Oct. 4, Warwick Police Officer David J. Babcock responded to the Valley Country Club, 251 New London Ave., for the report of a single-vehicle crash. West Warwick Police were also dispatched to the scene. West Warwick Police informed dispatch that the vehicle had driven off the road and struck several bushes at the country club.

Upon arrival, Babcock met with West Warwick Police and Fire personnel, who told him the vehicle was traveling south on Factory Street. The driver allegedly went through the stop sign at the intersection of Factory Street and New London Avenue, and drove across the avenue through the main entrance of the Country Club.

“It then veered off into a garden bed and struck several bushes,” Babcock wrote in the arrest report.

The vehicle had significant front-end damage, and the driver was identified as David A. Binkowski, 48, of 69 Tanglewood Drive, West Warwick.

Binkowski was still seated in the driver’s seat..

“I immediately detected a moderate odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from Binkowski’s breath,” Babcock wrote. “I also observed Binkowski to have watery, bloodshot eyes, as well as to be speaking in a slurred speech. I asked Binkowski where he was coming from, to which he stated that he was coming from LA Café in West Warwick.”

Babcock noted that LA Café is a “drinking establishment located at 245 Washington St. in West Warwick.”

Binkowski consented to a series of standardized field sobriety tests. Following the tests, Binkowski was cuffed and secured in a cruiser. He was transported to Warwick Police Headquarters where he consented to a breathalyzer test. The first test resulted in a 0.148 blood alcohol content (BAC) reading; the second indicated 0.131 BAC.

Binkowski was charged with one count of DUI of Liquor (0.10  to 0.15 BAC, first offense) and issued a Third District Court summons. He also received traffic citations for Leaving the Roadway, Reasonable and Prudent Speed, and Text Messaging While Driving.

The vehicle was towed from the scene, and Binkowski was ultimately picked up by his wife at 11:15 p.m.

DUI

At 8:46 p.m., Oct. 8, Warwick Police Officer Keara M. Enos was on routine patrol near Main Avenue and Warwick Industrial Drive, when her attention was drawn to a red Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Enos wrote in the arrest report that she clocked the Jeep traveling at 45 miles per hour in a 35 mph zone, and was allegedly “swerving significantly and abruptly from side to side.”

“The vehicle increased in speed as I followed it, and tapped on the brakes erratically,” Enos wrote. “As the vehicle approached Sam’s Food Store (located at 651 Maine Ave.), I observed the vehicle swerve to the right and nearly strike a curb.”

Enos initiated a traffic stop. She identified the driver as Carlos G. Alves, 64, of 425 Gardiner Road, West Kingston.

“As I spoke with Alves, I observed that his eyes were very glossy in appearance, and somewhat bloodshot,” Enos wrote in the arrest report. “As he spoke to me, I detected the odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from his breath.”

Alves consented to a series of standardized field sobriety tests. Following the tests, Alves was charged with DUI (BAC unknown, first offense) and Refusal to Submit to a Chemical Test. He was later released to the custody of a sober adult.

Jury finds West Warwick man guilty of 2020 drive-by double shooting

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Neronha announced this week that a West Warwick man was found guilty in Providence County Superior Court for his role in committing a 2020 drive-by shooting in North Providence that wounded two victims.

According to an AG press release, on Monday, Oct. 17, following the conclusion of a week-long jury trial before Superior Court Justice Kristin E. Rodgers, the jury found Matthew Peckham, 41, of West Warwick, guilty of three counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, one count of conspiracy to commit assault with a dangerous weapon, one count of committing a drive-by shooting, and one count of conspiracy to commit a drive-by shooting. The defendant will be sentenced at a later date in Providence County Superior Court.

“The widespread availability of illegal firearms, obtained by criminals in a variety of ways, is what is driving violence in our urban neighborhoods,” Neronha said. “For this defendant, his co-defendants, and far too many, the lives of other Rhode Islanders are effectively meaningless. For this defendant, and his co-defendants, disputes are to be settled in only one way: at the point of a gun. Fortunately, in this case, no one was killed because of the defendant’s outrageous conduct, but the outcome could have easily been otherwise. In any event, as with his cohorts, off to state prison for him, to serve a long sentence derived from his own stupidity and recklessness. I am grateful for the jury’s verdict, and to the men and women of the North Providence Police Department for their outstanding work in this case and in so many others.”

According to Neronha’s office, the prosecution proved beyond a reasonable doubt that around midnight on Sept. 13, 2020, the defendant, along with two co-defendants, shot and wounded two victims during a drive-by shooting in North Providence.

That evening, the defendant was the alleged driver of a Chevrolet Equinox, carrying co-defendants, Tyler Smith and Skyler Poznanski, traveling on High Service Avenue in the vicinity of Fatima Hospital. The defendants fired upon three individuals from their SUV, wounding two, before driving away, according to the press release.

Investigators from the North Providence Police Department spoke to the victims, who sustained non-life-threatening leg and arm wounds and identified the defendants as suspects. Several hours later, Massachusetts State Police arrested Mathew Peckham and Skyler Poznanski in Somerset, Mass. Several days later, the Rhode Island State Police Violent Fugitive Task Force arrested Tyler Smith in Woonsocket.

Investigators also recovered two firearms the defendants hid in a Dodge Charger rental car following the shooting – a Kel-Tec 9mm semi-automatic handgun and a Hi Point 9mm semi-automatic handgun, according to the press release. Prosecutors say the Hi-Point was later confirmed by the Rhode Island State Crime Lab to be a ballistic match to shell casings recovered from the scene.

On July 28, Poznanski was convicted for his role in the drive-by shooting and sentenced to 30 years, with 15 years to serve at the ACI. On Dec. 16, 2021, Smith was convicted for his role in the incident and sentenced to 10 years to serve at the ACI. Both Poznanski and Smith implicated Peckham in the drive-by shooting and testified for the State during Peckham’s trial, according to Neronha.

Special Assistant Attorneys General Daniel Hopkins and Michael Marinelli and North Providence Police Detectives Matt Phelan and Chris Cote led the investigation and prosecution of the case.