Police Blotter for Monday, June 21

Today's press briefing at the Fairfield Police Department included the following cases:

A 29-year-old Fairfield woman accused of forging and cashing checks that belonged to her grandmother and using her grandmother's credit cards to steal a total of $16,327 in cash and merchandise was arrested Friday.

Kathryn Stine, of Nutmeg Lane, was charged with second-degree larceny, credit card theft, illegal use of a credit card, receiving goods/services obtained illegally, second-degree forgery and first-degree identity theft. She was released on a promise to appear in Bridgeport Superior Court June 28, police said.

Police said Stine stole Bank of America checks from her 78-year-old grandmother and forged and cashed them for a total of $1,015 and that she charged $1,239 on one credit card, $4,157 on another credit card and $9,915 on a third credit card.

A 49-year-old Shelton motorist accused of nearly crashing into a stationary police cruiser at a construction site in the 500-block of the Post Road in Fairfield early today was charged with driving under the influence, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, failure to insure a motor vehicle and operating an unregistered motor vehicle.

Deidre Roach-Ratta, of Division Avenue, was held in lieu of $80 bond and was scheduled to appear July 6 in Bridgeport Superior Court, police said.

Police said Roach-Ratta failed field sobriety tests and had eight grams of marijuana and a pipe commonly used to smoke marijuana inside her Jeep Cherokee. The pipe had burnt marijuana residue in it, police said.

After Roach-Ratta nearly struck the police cruiser about 1:19 a.m., she got out of her Jeep Cherokee to ask the police officer for directions to Shelton, police said.

A 22-year-old Fairfield motorist accused of driving off the road by the corner of Morehouse Highway and Mohican Hill Road in Fairfield early Sunday was charged with driving under the influence and traveling too fast for conditions.

Robert Scalise, of Lamplighter Lane, was released on a promise to appear in Bridgeport Superior Court June 29, police said.

Police said Scalise drove a 2006 Mazda 4-door sedan into a wooded area off the road about 1:43 a.m. and failed field sobriety tests. He was arrested after he was taken to a hospital in Bridgeport to be evaluated; the name of the hospital wasn't available, police said.

The right, rear door on a 2003 Mercedes C Class car was reported vandalized Friday morning.

Police said the car had a 24-inch scratch, half of which was deep, and that the rear bumper also was damaged. The vandalism to the Mercedes, which belongs to a resident on Thorpe Street in Fairfield, was reported to police at 10:55 a.m., police said.

A 34-year-old Fairfield motorist accused of driving a 2005 Jeep Wrangler into an AT&T utility pole on Redding Road in Fairfield late Sunday was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence.

Aaron Katz, of Redding Road, was transported by AMR Ambulance Co. to Bridgeport Hospital to be evaluated; no one else was in the car, police said.

Police said Katz claimed a tree fell in front of him and that he swerved to avoid the tree and drove into a drainage ditch. Katz ignored officers' directions to stop walking toward live wires that surrounded the scene, police said.

Katz consented to a urine test that revealed he was intoxicated, police said.

A man who lives on Osborne Lane in Fairfield and who invited a magazine solicitor into his house Friday morning had a check stolen after he left the magazine solicitor alone to answer a phone. The stolen check was forged and cashed for $213, police said.

The man had left his checkbook by the solicitor when he went to answer the phone and used a check to pay for a $51 magazine subscription. The man told police he is not sure if he wants to press charges against the magazine solicitor, police said.