Gloucester District Court: Failure to prosecute brings assault dismissal

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March 29, 2012

Gloucester District Court: Failure to prosecute brings assault dismissal

By Steven Fletcher Staff Writer The Gloucester Daily Times Thu Mar 29, 2012, 05:55 AM EDT

Assault and battery charges brought against a Gloucester man were dismissed in Gloucester District Court by Judge Joseph Jennings due to a failure to prosecute in court.

George Dawson, 66 of 12 Woodland Ave., had faced a single charge of assault and battery in court Friday. Police arrested Dawson at his residence after responding to a report of a possible domestic assault.

A Rockport woman was sentenced Friday to eight days in jail after she pleaded guilty to a charge of assault and battery.

Jennings dealt Stephanie Watson, 44, of 38 Stockholm Ave. in Rockport, a six-month suspended jail sentence, with eight days to be served. She was also placed on probation through September 2013.

Officers arrested Watson after another Stockholm Avenue woman called to report an "unwelcome guest."

Police found Watson hiding in the basement of the caller's residence. Watson said the woman told her to leave the house, where she'd been staying off and on. When the woman started removing Watson's clothes from the residence, she said, they stated fighting.

Officers who arrested her on the domestic assault and battery charge also found she had five active warrants for her arrest out of Salem.

A Gloucester man was fined over $400 for disturbing the peace and resisting arrest.

Roger Cochems, 46, of 4 Joppa Way, Gloucester, was fined $100 for disturbing the peace and $350 for resisting arrest.

Police arrested Cochems last November after they responded to Friend Street for a report of a man hitting cars with a stick. When they arrived, they found Cochems walking down the street with a 5-foot fence picket in one hand and a branch in the other.

Cochems became loud and unruly when questioned by officers, according to police. He was then arrested for disturbing the peace, and while in handcuffs tried to escape.

Assault and battery charges brought against a Rockport man were dismissed in court Tuesday.

Jennings dismissed the charge brought against Donald Lawrence, 20, of 5 Curtis St. in Rockport, due to a failure to prosecute.

The charges stem from a Dec. 12 arrest, when Rockport police responded to a report of a domestic dispute at Lawrence's residence. When police arrived, Lawrence told them that he and a woman staying with him got into an argument that became physical.

Charges of illegally harvesting clams in a public stock area brought against Richard Bonfanti, 26, of Gloucester, were dismissed on payment of $100 in court costs.

The city's shellfish officer sought a complaint against Bonfanti for harvesting in the High Flat public stock area.

Harvesting in the area, the officer's report states, will disturb the growth of new clams; Bonfanti, the report states, had been told that multiple times.

Steven Fletcher can be reached at 978-283-7000 x3455, or sfletcher@gloucestertimes.com.