Crime & Safety

Man Steals $3,500 in Wine from Local Distributor

Also, check-cashing business defrauded of over $16,000; suspect apprehended in cell phone theft.

Joseph Rosarbo, 50, of New Haven, CT was arrested Thursday and charged with larceny in the fifth and third degrees.

A former employee of the Defco Industrial Park liquor distributor, Rosarbo is suspected of having stolen over $3,500 in wine from retailer. He was released without bond and is scheduled to appear in court on March 10. 

In other crime news, Jose Aucapina, 32, of East Haven was arrested on Thursday, February 24 in connection with a scam responsible for defrauding a local check-cashing business of over $16,000 in counterfeit payroll checks.

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Aucapina was charged with forgery in the second degree, forgery in the third degree, larceny in the third degree, conspiracy to commit larceny in the first degree, and criminal impersonation. 

North Haven detectives collaborated with Guilford detectives and troopers from Troop F in an investigation into the scam that began in August of 2008.

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Several other suspects in the scheme have been apprehended. Aucapina, who was extradited from Florida by the Guilford police department, is currently being held on $60,000 bond. 

In other crime news, Maymunatou Lamtonee Tunis, 32, of Queens, New York was arrested Thursday under suspicion of having stolen a cell phone valued at $500 from an electronics store on Universal Drive.

Store employees reported the theft, and officers apprehended Tunis, then in possession of the phone and several SIM cards, a short distance away.

Tunis was charged with larceny in the fifth degree, and was released on a $500 bond. She has a court date scheduled for March 3. 


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