Crime & Safety
Vanilla Bean Thief Pleads to Charge
Police catch Joseph Bianco, 24, for a robbery at the Vanilla Bean after his apartment burns down in Narragansett.
Unless otherwise noted, files at Washington County Superior Court contain the information about the following court cases. You can review them at the McGrath Judicial Complex.
Joseph Bianco, 24, now of 2015 Birch St., Scotch Plains, NJ, and formerly of 56 Meadowrue Trail, Narragansett, and 108 Boon St., Narragansett, pleaded no contest on March 19 to a South Kingstown police charge of breaking and entering into the Vanilla Bean in August 2011.
Bianco was ordered to pay $450 in assessments, and a deferred sentence was imposed.
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According to South Kingstown police reports included in court files, in August 2011 someone broke into the Vanilla Bean while it was closed.
While no money was taken, police said some of the ice cream was eaten, and the door to a refrigeration unit was left open. As a result, about $900 worth of ice cream went bad.
Find out what's happening in Narragansett-South Kingstownfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Police said that at the time, there were no suspects in the crime, but fingerprints were taken and submitted to the crime lab. Police said they were notified that Bianco’s prints were matched on Aug. 14, 2012, and he was arrested on Aug. 21.
Bianco’s prints were submitted to the crime lab database after an arrest in Narragansett in July 2012.
At the time, Narragansett police said Bianco’s apartment burned down, with his dog dying in the fire. Police said the incident left Bianco irate, because officers wouldn’t risk their life to save his dog, and Bianco had to be arrested after damaging the door of an adjacent apartment.
About a month later, Bianco was picked up by Narragansett police based on a South Kingstown warrant for the Vanilla Bean break-in.
If we’re missing a case you’re interested in knowing about, feel free to leave a comment or to send Local Editor Stephen Greenwell a message at Stephen.greenwell@patch.com. We typically write up the summaries once a case has been resolved – a dismissal, a plea, or a guilty or not guilty finding.
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