Police/Court
A Vineyard Haven man charged with indecent assault and battery on a child has been placed on pretrial probation for the charges.
Daniel Parker, 59, was placed on pretrial probation for 18 months on Dec. 14, and ordered not to contact the alleged victim and his family.
After the 18-month probation period, the case will be dismissed.
In February 2012, Mr. Parker was arraigned on three charges of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 for allegedly assaulting a boy, then seven years old.
Island police officers began adding a new tool to their arsenal this month as a small group participates in a state-approved instructor development course. Jack Collins, counsel for the Massachusetts Police Chiefs Association, and Oak Bluffs Lieut. Jim Morse have been leading the officers in a six-day training session, which resumes in January.
An Oak Bluffs man was arrested last week on child pornography charges, and another pleaded guilty to child pornography charges from the spring. Joshua L. Rogers, 25, of Oak Bluffs, was arraigned Dec. 6 in Edgartown district court on charges of possessing child pornography and distributing material of a child in a sexual act. Bail was set at $25,000, with no unsupervised contact with children under age 16 a further condition of release.
The next orientation night to become an EMT is Jan. 10 to be held at the Tisbury Emergency Services Facility. Classes will run from January to early April, meeting Fridays from 6 to 10 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The cost for the class is $1,200, but if accepted for sponsorship through Island ambulance services, the tuition may be paid in exchange for a commitment of typically four shifts a month for a year.
After five years of planning, construction and a complicated move, the county communications center has begun operations at its new location in the basement of the community corrections center at the airport.
The changeover took place last Thursday, Dec. 6, and included help from Barnstable County Sheriffs department communication center, according to sheriff Michael A. McCormack.
The $1.5 million project, funded mostly by state grants, brings the center into the digital age, the sheriff said. The facility handles thousands of calls a year.
A New Hampshire man was arraigned Friday in Edgartown district court on vehicular manslaughter charges stemming from a fatal car accident on the Fourth of July.
Thomas C. Jones, 53, of Milan, N.H., was arraigned on two counts of motor vehicle homicide and one count of negligent operation of a motor vehicle. Mr. Jones’ son, Seth, 26, and Seth’s girlfriend, Heather Laflamme, 21, were killed in the accident on Barnes Road, in which Mr. Jones was performing a U-turn in a Jeep Wrangler when the Jeep was broadsided by another car.