Officers Follow Report of Theft from Truck to Arrest Suspect

Warwick, RI – Officers used a description of a vehicle involved in a theft of tools from a truck on Graystone Street March 9 to track the thief to his home, recovering the tools and arresting the suspected thief.

At 5:16 p.m., Officer Kevin McGuire was called to the Graystone address, where he spoke with the owner of the truck. The owner said he’d arrived at work there to speak with his boss at about 4 p.m..

At about 4:30 p.m., a UPS driver showed  for a pickup, and told him there was a man by his van. When the owner went to check on his vehicle, he discovered his Dewalt notebook folder, $25 and a Milwaukee circular saw, $150, were missing.

The UPS driver told the owner the man who’d been skulking near his van drove away in an SUV with no back window, with a blanket across it.

Using the description of the truck, McGuire inquired with his fellow officers, who directed him to the home of Paul Strumar, 50, of 56 Reed St.

Detective Shaun Turcotte responded to the address, where he reported seeing Strumar’s truck pull in to the driveway, and detained him. McGuire drove there as well, where he found the drill and notebook reported stolen.

McGuire arrested Strumar, finding five hydrocodone pill and two Suboxone pills on his person. Earlier, Turcotte had found a bottle containing five oxycodone pills on Strumar’s person.

The officers took Strumar to Warwick Police Headquarters at 99 Veterans Memorial Park Highway, charging him with receiving stolen goods and three counts of possession of illegal drugs.