The perp in a pink hoodie.
Posted on 05/21/2010 11:39:20 PM PDT by raccoonradio
BARNSTABLE — Gina Giovangelo walked swiftly into Barnstable District Court yesterday morning, her hand wrapped tightly around her attorney's forearm.
But within two hours, neither the lawyer, nor the judge, nor the police who arrested her knew where Giovangelo had gone.
The Hyannis teenager, charged in the hit-and-run crash that killed a woman in a wheelchair earlier this week, fled court yesterday morning before answering the motor-vehicle homicide charges levied against her. As of last night, she was still at-large.
Giovangelo, who allegedly failed to stop after she struck Lillian White, 47, Tuesday night in Hyannis, entered the court at about 9 a.m., with her attorney, Russell Redgate, on one arm and family members on the other. But when it came time to answer the charges, Giovangelo, 18, was no where to be found, launching a police search and prompting Barnstable District Court Judge Don Carpenter to issue a warrant for her arrest.
"The last time I saw her, she walked out of here and said she was going to have a smoke. ... (I) haven't heard from her since," Redgate said yesterday, standing near the courthouse steps following the aborted hearing.
"She's an 18-year-old girl," he said. "She's very troubled and she's increasing her troubles. ... This is not a good decision."
The police arrested Giovangelo, who lives at 73 Vandermint Lane, after they questioned her Thursday evening — two nights after the crash. She was released on $10,000 cash bail.
Investigators had identified Giovangelo's vehicle, a 2007 Nissan Altima, through surveillance footage at the Holly Tree Resort Hotel on Route 28 in West Yarmouth, where she had been seen before and after the crash, according to a police report filed yesterday in District Court. And several acquaintances, including at least one who described herself as a passenger in the vehicle, identified Giovangelo as the driver, Barnstable police Detective Sgt. John F. Murphy wrote in the report.
Giovangelo acknowledged to the police she was driving on North Street the night of the accident, Murphy wrote in his report.
The passenger said Giovangelo had been drinking Hennessey Cognac at the hotel before the two left at about 9:30 p.m. to drive to a convenience store on North Street in Hyannis, according to Murphy's report. They were leaving the store to drive back to the hotel when the vehicle struck "something," causing the air bags to deploy, Murphy wrote.
White was crossing North Street, returning to her apartment on her motorized wheelchair at about 10 p.m. Tuesday when she was hit. She died early the next morning.
"According to the passenger, Giovangelo did not stop or slow down following the impact," Murphy wrote in the police report. "The passenger added that she observed a pocketbook on the windshield of the car and concluded they had hit someone."
The next day, Giovangelo abandoned the Altima in a Hyannis parking lot, according to Murphy's report. The police found the car Thursday in a commercial parking lot off Independence Drive. The Altima had front-end damage consistent with a recent accident, according to Murphy's report.
"I'd like to slap the bondsman who set her bail at $10,000 when she was clearly a flight risk," said Siobhan White, 25, one of Lillian White's seven children. "Someone should have been watching her. I feel like I got slapped in the face over and over."
The Barnstable police and officials from the Cape and Islands District Attorney's Office yesterday declined to comment on the specifics of the investigation, including whether alcohol or speed were factors in the crash.
Assistant District Attorney Brian Glenny said Giovangelo's flight from court does not necessarily indicate her guilt or innocence. "There could be very innocent reasons why she (ran)," Glenny said yesterday. "There could be more guilty reasons why she did what she did."
Police investigators and members of the media crossed Barnstable frenetically throughout the day yesterday, following tips, rumors and hearsay that placed Giovangelo across the town.
Stories circulated that a woman fitting Giovangelo's description asked workers at the Barnstable General Store to use a store telephone soon after she left court, and several hours later a woman meeting her description reportedly arrived in a white Honda with two companions at AutoSmart, a car dealership on Route 28 in Hyannis, looking to buy a silver 1999 Mercedes ML320 SUV for $6,000 cash.
A man who arrived with Giovangelo "basically said, 'I've got cash. We need a car now,' " dealership owner Darrell Fietz said yesterday afternoon. "(The man) did all the talking. She didn't want to have any contact with us."
When Fietz offered to give them a test drive, he asked for a driver's license. The man said they would come back for the car and they drove away.
Later in the afternoon, the police responded to a home on Oak Ridge Road in Osterville, where they questioned a female friend of Giovangelo about her car, which was in the driveway. Authorities suspected the Honda Civic was the car that had been seen at AutoSmart. The friend's Civic was not involved in the case, the teenaged girl's father said.
Giovangelo, who faces charges of motor-vehicle homicide as well as leaving the scene of an accident, will be arraigned on the homicide charges when she is found and taken into custody, Glenny said. The amount of bail prosecutors seek will depend on the circumstances of her flight. The motor-vehicle homicide charge is punishable by up to 30 years in jail, a $3,000 fine and a 10-year driver's license revocation, according to court documents.
Giovangelo, who had her license suspended last month, was on probation at the time of her arrest stemming from a larceny charge, according to court records. In the larceny case, she was put on one year's probation and required to spend 30 days at the Emerson House, a drug treatment facility for women in Falmouth. The larceny charge stemmed from a January incident in which police allegedly found Giovangelo and two other women stole more than $740 worth of jewelry from the Plum Porch, a Marstons Mills gift shop.
"She's a nervous young lady and she's in some trouble right now," Redgate, Giovangelo's attorney, said yesterday. "The longer she's out, the more it hurts her in the law courts."
She sounds like a really unpleasant person to me.
I certainly hope the passenger is in some serious trouble too. It doesn't sound like she bothered to notify police of what she'd "concluded" until they tracked her down and grilled her.
more
>>they found the undercarriage of a motorized wheelchair in one of the parking spots farthest away from the lobby.
>>She told 7NEWS that she was not the driver.
“No one was,” she responded when asked who was driving the car. [amazing, car drove itself?]
http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO142695/
A judge ordered an arrest warrant Friday for a Cape Cod woman who took off from court before she was to be formally charged in a deadly hit-and-run accident.
Gina Giovangelo, 18, reportedly left Barnstable District Court to have a cigarette but never returned for her arraignment.
“She said she was going to have a smoke. I told her that she couldn’t have it on the deck, so she went out in the parking lot,” said defense attorney Russell Redgate.
7NEWS has learned that Giovangelo then went across the street to the Village Deli, where she ran into a woman she knew from high school. Deli employee Samantha Cohen saw Giovangelo coming out of a bathroom.
“As soon as she came out, I went right over to Rachael and said, ‘That’s the girl that’s in the paper. I went to school with her.’ I saw her leave. She took a right and went past our building, so I didn’t see the car she got in,” Cohen said.
Cohen and her co-worker, Rachael Hyatt, aren’t sure if Giovangelo actually got into a car at all, but she repeatedly asked to use a phone to find a ride.
“She was really sketchy, so I thought she was on something,” said Hyatt.
Before going missing, Giovangelo also told a 7NEWS photographer that she needed to take a break.
“She’s a young girl. She’s very frightened, very apprehensive, very emotional. Certainly, the charges are a major part of that. What else contributes to it, who knows,” said Giovangelo’s attorney.
Giovangelo was allegedly behind the wheel of a 2007 gray Nissan Altima on Tuesday night when it hit a woman in a motorized wheelchair. The car drove off, leaving the victim, Lillian White, in the middle of North Street in Hyannis.
Police believe White, a 47-year-old mother of seven, was headed to a nearby convenience store. She later died from her injuries after allegedly being dragged 50 feet.
Giovangelo stayed at The Holly Tree Hotel in West Yarmouth on Tuesday night. A manager there told 7NEWS they found the undercarriage of a motorized wheelchair in one of the parking spots farthest away from the lobby.
She was released Thursday night from police headquarters after posting $10,000 cash bail, which is now forfeit. She told 7NEWS that she was not the driver.
“No one was,” she responded when asked who was driving the car.
Asked if she had anything to say to victim’s family, Giovangelo told 7NEWS on Thursday, “Not right now. I’m sorry.”
On Thursday, Barnstable Police said they found the car believed to have been involved in the accident.
“Yarmouth PD located some evidence that we felt was associated with the accident in a hotel parking lot in their town. As a result of several interviews we’ve conducted over the course of the day, we did subsequently make an arrest,” said Sgt. Andrew McKenna of the Barnstable Police Department.
The victim’s family is outraged over the sudden, tragic loss of their mother.
“You took my mother. You know you did it. Just come forth. I’m very angry. I’m sad. I’m hurt. Pretty much all my emotions right now are skyrocketing,” said Siobhan White, the victim’s daughter.
Giovangelo is charged with motor vehicle homicide and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death. She had no comment as she arrived at court Friday accompanied by her parents and attorney. She is now facing even more charges after jumping bail.
Giovangelo was already on probation for less serious charges at the time of the incident.
She killed someone while driving drunk (on hard liquor) without a license after dark, despite the fact that she is on probation with a suspended license because she robbed a jewelry store - apparently for drug money, because she was in rehab following the robbery.
She fled the scene of the crime and is now a fugitive from justice.
All that's missing is the quote from her mother saying: "She's a good girl. Anyone can make a mistake."
And so much for the 10 grand mom and dad put up for bail.
Hyannis(port)...drunk driving...fatality...leaving scene of accident...sounds so familiar
But within two hours, neither the lawyer, nor the judge, nor the police who arrested her knew where Giovangelo had gone.
I would arrest her attorney AND her parents. And charge them with aiding and abetting.
was the wheelchair on the sidewalk
or the road?
She’s guilty and deserves 2 years of probation.
You think her parents or attorney helped or encouraged her to skip out? No way!
Too bad for this young lady that she did not have time to marry into the Kennedy family so that her behavior would be excused and protected.
She’s a short medium at large.
btw from today's Boston Herald...car shopping with a fugitive from justice:
>>>A woman fitting Giovangelo’s description arrived at AutoSmart on Route 28 in Hyannis in the late morning or early afternoon, said Darrell Fietz, owner of AutoSmart LLC on Route 28 in Hyannis.
A blonde woman in her 20s was driving the car and there was a man, also in his 20s, in the front passenger seat, he said. A woman fitting Giovangelo’s description was sitting in the backseat. She had on gray sweatpants, a pink hoodie, and big sunglasses, with “that hood pulled over so you couldn’t see her face,” Fietz said. Giovangelo arrived at court earlier in the day wearing a pink hoodie and gray sweatpants.
The woman in the pink hoodie got out of the car and was looking at a silver 1999 Mercedes ML 320 SUV, Fietz said. The man approached Fietz and offered to pay $6,000 cash for the car.
He “basically said, ‘I’ve got cash, we need a car now,’ ” Fietz said. He “did all the talking. She didn’t want to have any contact with us.”
The man didn’t want to test-drive the car, and balked at the idea of an AutoSmart employee making a copy of his driver’s license, Fietz said. A short time later the man told Fietz they would return later to get the car. The pair got back into the Accord and drove away.
(When they find her they're looking at aiding and abetting)
>>>About 10 minutes after they left, Fietz heard a description of Giovangelo on the radio and called the police. “It was too much of a coincidence not to call the police,” he said.
Captured in Onset, Cape Cod...
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100522/NEWS11/100529923
Motor vehicle homicide suspect captured in Onset
ONSET — She eluded police for more than a day, but officers — with the help of a police dog — captured 18-year-old Gina Giovangelo near a wooded area this afternoon.
Giovangelo is facing motor vehicle homicide charges after she allegedly failed to stop after striking Lillian White, 47, Tuesday night in Hyannis. White, who was in a wheelchair when she was hit, died several hours later.
The police arrested Giovangelo, who lives at 73 Vandermint Lane, after they questioned her Thursday evening — two nights after the crash. She was released on $10,000 cash bail and ordered to appear in Barnstable District Court Friday morning for her arraignment.
But shortly after she entered court yesterday morning, Giovangelo left to go outside to have a cigarette and never returned.
Barnstable District Court Judge Don Carpenter issued a warrant for her arrest.
Police canvassed the Cape for more than a day, chasing a number of leads from people who reported seeing her.
A woman who lives in the Fairway Drive and Roberta Drive in Onset said she saw police capture Giovangelo this afternoon.
“She was alone at the time,” said the woman, who asked not to be named. “They got her by using a police dog and chasing her in the woods.”
Investigators had identified Giovangelo’s vehicle, a 2007 Nissan Altima, through surveillance footage at the Holly Tree Resort Hotel on Route 28 in West Yarmouth, where she had been seen before and after the crash, according to a police report.
And several acquaintances, including at least one who described herself as a passenger in the vehicle, identified Giovangelo as the driver, Barnstable police Detective Sgt. John F. Murphy wrote in the report.
Giovangelo, who faces charges of motor-vehicle homicide as well as leaving the scene of an accident, will be arraigned on the homicide charges when she is found and taken into custody, Assistant District Attorney Brian Glenny said.
The amount of bail prosecutors seek will depend on the circumstances of her flight. The motor-vehicle homicide charge is punishable by up to 30 years in jail, a $3,000 fine and a 10-year driver’s license revocation, according to court documents.
Giovangelo, who had her license suspended last month, was on probation at the time of her arrest stemming from a larceny charge, according to court records. In the larceny case, she was put on one year’s probation and required to spend 30 days at the Emerson House, a drug treatment facility for women in Falmouth.
The larceny charge stemmed from a January incident in which police allegedly found Giovangelo and two other women stole more than $740 worth of jewelry from the Plum Porch, a Marstons Mills gift shop.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.