Barrington cops crack case of coffee cup litterbug

Police issue summons to Pawtucket man

By Josh Bickford
Posted 5/24/22

It took weeks of patient police work, but in the end, they got their man.

For the last seven weeks, Barrington Police officers noticed empty coffee cups piling up near a turnaround on the …

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Barrington cops crack case of coffee cup litterbug

Police issue summons to Pawtucket man

Posted

It took weeks of patient police work, but in the end, they got their man.

For the last seven weeks, Barrington Police officers noticed empty coffee cups piling up near a turnaround on the Wampanoag Trail. The trash would get removed only to pile up again and again. 

The situation became so bad that Barrington Police eventually put up a sign near the turnaround reminding motorists not to throw trash from their vehicles. The sign did not work.

And it appeared that the trash was coming from a single source. Barrington Police Chief Michael Correia said officers checked the labels on the discarded coffee cups and discovered that they were all the same order: two creams and five sugars, and they were all from Dunkin. 

“We’ve collected upwards of 25 to 50 cups that are marked two creams and five sugars,” Chief Correia said. 

So a few weeks back, police began monitoring the location periodically to see if they could spot the coffee cup culprit. 

On Thursday, May 19, at about 9:40 p.m., Barrington Police Officer Mark Haddigan spotted someone in a black Jeep toss a coffee cup out his window while driving by the turnaround. Officer Haddigan pursued the vehicle and ordered it over to the side of the road. A short time later, Officer Haddigan issued a RI Traffic Tribunal summons to Jose C. Carvalho, 62, of Pawtucket, for litter control and recycling-littering prohibited. Carvalho has been given a court date of June 20.

Chief Correia said the penalty for the first violation of the ordinance is a fine not less than $85 and not more than $1,000. He said the violator can also be ordered to pick up litter for not less than two hours and not more than 25. 

“We put a sign out there, basically asking a person, why? The inference was there. We really did give the person an opportunity to change his behavior,” Chief Correia said. 

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A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.