State police at Blooming Grove
State police say Maureen Cardoso Flowers, the owner of Plaza Video, has been charged with more than 20 felonies, including burglary, identity theft, receiving stolen property and corrupt organizations. Police charge that Cardoso Flowers stole the credit cards from customers shopping in her store, people singing in church and from a home between February and October of 2004. Following numerous reports of unauthorized credit transactions in 2004, state police obtained video of the transactions and found that one woman appeared to be involved in all of them. The tapes were shown to some of the 15 families victimized, who identified Cardoso Flowers. Several cards were allegedly stolen while customers shopped in the video shop. Other victims were members of the choir at St. Vincents Church, who had cards stolen while they were singing in church. Flowers was doing community service work at the church at the time. Other victims had cards stolen from their kitchen while they were away. Police said Flowers was also charged with “a large number” of misdemeanors. She was intially arraigned on these charges in September of 2005 and released on her own recognizance. But she was arrested again in October on retail theft charges and is currently free on $25,000 bail, pending a Feb. 15 hearing before Magistrate Alan Cooper. State police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are investigating the January 13 robbery of the Wayne Bank branch at state Route 739 in Blooming Grove Township. Police say the robber entered the bank shortly before closing at 5:55 p.m., and forced tellers to give him and undisclosed amount of money. He fled the scene undetected. Police ask that anyone with information about the incident call the FBI at 570-344-2404 or state police at 570-226-5718. On January 16, state police were involved in the apprehension of Carmine Ferrara, 28, of Sparrowbush, N.Y., who was the subject of 5:00 p.m. highway chase in Port Jervis. With the chase reportedly headed westbound on Interstate Highway 84, Trooper Mulvey drove to the state line exit 53, where he reportedly found Westfall Police Officer Chad Stewart, whose patrol car had been hit during the chase. Stewart told Mulvey that he had driven westbound, ahead of a Ford Escort which was being chased, and slowed in front of it to slow the fleeing driver. Looking in his rearview mirror, Stewart saw that erratically moving car had no driver. Ferrara had exited the moving vehicle and jumped over a guide rail on the interstate. Two Port Jervis officers, Scott Robertson and Matthew Curreri, chased him on foot and eventually captured Ferrara in Pennsylvania. Ferrara was arraigned before Disrict Justice Stephen McBride, charged with reckless endangerment, fleeing and eluding police, resisting arrest, driving with a suspended or revoked license, careless driving and reckless driving. He was remanded to the Pike County Jail in lieu of $20,000 bail.