Police Arrest Man On Warrant For Receiving Goods from Blackstone Burglary

Woonsocket Police Detective Thomas Gormley, armed with a warrant for Thomas Pleau's (38, of 2187 Diamond Hill Road) arrest in connection with a Blackstone, MA burglary, found him at 2381 Walnut Hill Road March 15 at 3:30 p.m.

The detective had found the address through the registration for a car belonging to Melanie Champagne, 33, spotted during the theft. When he was done speaking with the building manager, Gormley spotted Pleau about 100 feet away, lighting a cigarette, according to Gormley's report.

Gormley called to Pleau, ordering him to stop and informing him he had a warrant for his arrest. Pleau responded by running toward the door of one of the apartments, where Champagne joined him, both fumbling for the keys to the door.

The cooperative approach to unlocking a door proved inefficent, and Gormley caught up to them before they could get into the apartment. Gormley placed Pleau in handcuffs without incident.

During the investigation, police recovered a set of collectible coins, a gold seahorse pin, a carousel horse pin, and a set of Tiffany hearts jewelry, which had been stolen from the Blackstone home.

Police Information Officer Det. Jamie Paone said the items, which were recovered, had been sold to two area shops: Louis and Michael Jewelry and The Gold Advance.

Pleau was charged with several misdemeanors: Two counts of recieving stolen goods; obtaining money under false pretenses ($594); obtaining money under false pretenses ($480) and possession of stolen out of state property.