State, Lowell police search for boater

A driver whose passengers mistakenly left their 5-year-old daughter in his taxi has received a warning. Joseph Cohen had been threatened with a three-day suspension because he did not thoroughly check the van. He appealed the suspension and was allowed to keep his license pending a hearing. Yesterday, he visited the police station with an attorney and learned he would get only a warning. Cohen picked up the family at Logan International Airport Sunday, and minutes after he dropped them off at their home in Mattapan, he got a call from the cab pool at the airport and took the child home. Elaine Driscoll, a police spokeswoman, said the case is an important opportunity “to remind cabdrivers why we have a rule that dictates they must check the back of their cab after every fare.’’ (AP)

Chelsea police said they broke up an alleged drug-dealing operation Monday that was being run out of an abandoned building. Officers responded to a building on Breakwater Cove after a reported burglar alarm activation. They found the door partially opened and entered. Inside were several hundred pounds of marijuana, hundreds of Oxycodone and ecstasy pills, $40,000, and a gun. They also found Jose V. Rivera-Candray, 28, who was arrested and faces a litany of drug and firearm related charges. He was arraigned yesterday in Chelsea District Court.

Two New Hampshire men have been indicted on first-degree assault charges, accused of dragging a homeless man from his tent and beating him with a wooden club or bat and their fists. Daniel Kovich and Daniel Straitiff, both 48, are accused of beating Mark Carter on April 25. Police said the two men went looking for Straitiff’s girlfriend at an encampment at the edge of a park. Police said the reasons for the attack are unclear. Kovich is scheduled to be arraigned tomorrow on two counts of first-degree assault. Straitiff faces arraignment Aug. 14 on a single count. The charges are punishable by up to 15 years in prison. (AP)

A Massachusetts man accused of smuggling steroids, human growth hormone, and other illegal prescription drugs into the United States has been sentenced in New Hampshire to 3 1/2 years in prison. Christopher Chase, 27, was sentenced Monday after pleading guilty to conspiracy and money laundering charges. Prosecutors say he had illegal drugs shipped from China and other countries and then sold them over the Internet, using fake websites to trick banks into thinking he was selling legitimate merchandise. He was accused of mailing more than 500 packages within the United States and abroad between December 2005 and September 2006. (AP)

The body of a missing Exeter shellfisherman has been found tethered to his boat off Quonset Point in North Kingstown. Louis Ricciarelli Jr. was reported overdue from a fishing trip by his wife early yesterday. A Coast Guard crew located the man’s 25-foot boat anchored off the coast of North Kingstown, where the 56-year-old often would dive for shellfish. Divers from the Warwick Fire Department followed the missing man’s diving tether and located his body about 20 feet underwater. The state Department of Environmental Management will investigate the death. (AP)