Ladyville Police have arrested and charged three persons whom they strongly believe are part of a ring of burglars that have not only been breaking into homes in the Fresh Pond Community of Burrell Boom Village but terrorizing the residents. The accused have been identified as Raymond “Footy” Gongora who has been charged with handling stolen goods, Dennis “Plegar” Tillett who has been charged with burglary. Also charged with burglary is a minor, Gongora’s nephew who lives with him.
Today 7NEWS spoke with all of the parties involved. Officer in Charge of Ladyville Police Sub-formation Inspector Calbert Flowers says they do have strong evidence against the accused. But Raymond Gongora says his arrest is all political and that he is one being victimized. He also flatly denied police reports that stolen items were recovered from his residence. As for the residents of Fresh Pond, the Vice President of that community’s council Natalie Robinson told 7NEWS that the police have finally caught and arrested the persons responsible for the crime that she says has been plaguing them for several years.
Insp. Calbert Flowers, Ladyville Police sub formation
“Well it has been several months now since the increase of burglaries in that area; it has increased drastically. We believe that one ring of burglars are responsible for these burglaries and we have made three arrests and we believe that we have these persons who we believe are responsible for the majority of these burglaries.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
What led to these arrests?
Insp. Calbert Flowers,
“Well good community work. Members of the community in Fresh Pond, they continued to work along with us and gave us information. So we got a lot of information from the public out there in Fresh Pond and we followed each of these leads. Whenever we get burglaries, people from the community give us information and we followed each and everyone of these leads.”
Raymond Gongora, Charged
“I don’t encourage no youth or no young kids to do anything negative. I came from stuff like this. You think I want to walk backway in my life. Don’t you think I am fed up of things like that? They had a meeting stating that they should try to remove Mr. Gongora from the Fresh Pond community. It was in the newspaper. I tried to pay it no mind because I am not that type of person. I have lived in Fresh Pond for ten years. I haven’t been having this problem and suddenly the problem started coming like hand over fist to me. The police had already charged three kids for this thing.”
Insp. Calbert Flowers,
“We believe yes that we have enough evidence to get a conviction. That is the reason why we have arrested him. The people from Fresh Pond were behind us. They are upset because they believe Mr. Gongora is responsible for some of the burglaries. But we the police officers, we work by evidence. We cannot arrest someone if we don’t have the evidence and we believe that we have some evidence now to arrest and charge him for this handling stolen goods.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
Was he caught with any of the stolen goods?
Insp. Calbert Flowers,
“Yes he was caught with some items.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
At his residence?
Insp. Calbert Flowers,
“At his residence.”
Raymond Gongora,
“I am not one to encourage a kid to steal from my neighbour. My neighbourhood should be safe because my kids are growing in that neighbourhood. That is why I moved to Fresh Pond in the first instance, to get away from all this stuff. Since I reached Burrell Boom I have started a tournament that is ongoing every year in Burrell Boom, that the whole community goes to. I am the Vice-Chairman of the Village Council, why every time it’s me.”
Natalie Robinson, VP - Fresh Pond Community Council
“Over the past three years we’ve been having burglaries on a regular basis. Homes have been broken into, people’s homes have been vandalized, they even stone your home if you try to make noise or any thing. It is like we have been terrorized behind here by one group of people. One person just, how would you say it, has a little gang of kids and whenever you are looking at and see who is stoning your house or anything, it is because the kids just run away and whenever you go to his home and complain and say I could pinpoint your nephew or your child, he is like my child can be accounted for. He doesn’t want to hear nothing from any of the residents in Fresh Pond.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
How many homes have been burglarized?
Natalie Robinson,
“Well over 20.”
Insp. Calbert Flowers,
“We plan to step up patrol. In fact we have and we are also in the process of doing some reshuffling. We’ll be changing around officers, we believe that one officer is in the area for too long and we’ve been receiving complaints that he was not dealing with these reports appropriately so we will be making some shifts.”
Natalie Robinson,
“We’ve been asking from that last meeting, which was last year August, to have a police station in the Fresh Pond area. We have promised it time and time again and nothing has happened yet. But we really need a police station behind Fresh Pond.”
Yesterday that 14-year-old, nephew and 19-year-old Dwayne Tillett, a resident of #22 Fresh Pond area, both charged with burglary; the 14-year-old was additionally charged with one count of handling stolen goods. The two appeared before Magistrate Sharon Frazer in court #6 where they were granted bail in the sum of $5,000 each plus two sureties of $2,500 which they met. Today, Raymond Footie Gongora was arraigned in court #4 in front of Magistrate Aretha Ford with one count of handling stolen goods. His case was also adjourned to March 13. He was represented by Dickie Bradley.
