Yesterday, members of the Massachusetts State Police Cyber Crime Unit (CCU) arrested a Shirley man on child pornography charges following an investigation into a purchase the man made through an online, e-commerce corporation.

The investigation began when the e-commerce corporation alerted the CCU that a man had purchased a “love doll” sex toy, which resembles a child. The purchase of such an item violates the corporation’s user agreement and terms of service.

Trooper Jeffrey Perry conducted an investigation into the purchaser and confirmed him to be SEAN MCCLURE, 48, of Shirley, a registered Level 3 Sex Offender.

Trooper Perry and other members of the CCU made contact with MCCLURE at his residence in Shirley. Following their encounter with him, they executed a search warrant on his residence, with assistance from the Shirley Police Department and Special Agents from Homeland Security Investigations, which led to the discovery of numerous images believed to be child pornography.

MCCLURE was subsequently placed under arrest on the following charges:
1. Possession of Child Pornography
2. Distribution of Obscene Matter

MCCLURE was booked at the State Police Barracks in Leominster and held on $20,000.00 bail pending his arraignment in Ayer District Court today.

As always, click on the title for more or detailed information on the event. Most of the events were pulled from our event calendar where you can find hundreds of local area events each month. The event calendar is FREE, so if you are a local business, and not taking advantage of FREE publicity, shame on you! Are you a local business and want to sponsor this high traffic, weekend guide?

Contact info@newbedfordguide.com for more details. Have an event to add? Add it here. Know of another event this weekend? Post a reply!

_____________________________________________________

Friday, May 11th

Lobster Roll & Potato Chips (ALL DAY)
They’re baaaack! May 11th – St. Paul’s Methodist Church is having their annual Lobster Roll sale. You can call in your order or order online!

Pub6T5 w/ “The Chops Turner Band” (8:00pm-12:00am)
Enjoy a fun time and memories with friends and staff of Pub 6T5 as you listen to the tunes of The Chops Turner Band. 736 Ashley Blvd, New Bedford, MA.

“Cover Up” featuring Mike Paull And Gillie Rezendes at The Bar (10:00pm)
Come join us for a good time lets party together. Listen to some great tunes and have some of the best food in New Bedford. The Bar, 266 Dartmouth St, New Bedford.

Saturday, May 12th

26th Annual Letter Carriers’ Food Drive: help us Stamp Out Hunger! (8:00am-5:00pm)
Join the fight against hunger in Greater New Bedford by simply walking to your mailbox on Saturday, May 12th! Join the National Association of Letter Carriers SE MA Merged Branch 18, the US Postal Service and United Way of Greater New Bedford for the 26th annual Letter Carriers’ Food Drive and help us Stamp Out Hunger!

Mattapoisett Historical Society’s 3rd Annual Yard Sale (8:00am-11:00am)
Our 3rd annual charity yard sale will take place on Saturday, May 12 from 8:00 – 11:00 am on Baptist Street. There will be a variety of items for sale: antique tools, ceramics, antique irons, furniture, games, carpets, Presto Press, etc. Come buy a treasure and support the Mattapoisett Historical Society!

Gannon Strong Crossfit Fundraiser WOD at Crossfit Dartmouth (8:00am-12:00pm)
Please help us support the Gannon family during this tragic time. 100% of the proceeds from today’s fundraiser will go directly to the family and organizations that Officer Gannon was associated with. The least we can do it help alleviate the financial burden for the family. Join us for BYOB, food and a raffle. We will also have a raffle showcasing local shops and vendors. CrossFit Dartmouth, 668A State Rd Route 6, Dartmouth.

Edaville Family Theme Park Activities (10:00am-5:00pm)
Come RIDE, ROAR, and EXPLORE at the exciting world of Edaville! With 3 PARKS IN 1, you can ride through Cran-Central, roar throughout Dino Land, and explore with Thomas & Friends through the magical Island of Sodor! Admission includes all rides & attractions. MA/RI Residents save up to $7 per date-specific ticket online only. Restrictions apply. Discount applied after applicable billing address entered. Edaville Family Theme Park, 5 Pine St. Carver.

FREE Mindfulness Walk: Star of the Sea Reserve (11:00am-12:00pm)
Enjoy the peace and beauty of nature with Jessica Webb, owner of Anchor Yoga, and the Buzzards Bay Coalition during this walk at Star of the Sea Reserve. Through guided mindfulness meditation, you will experience nature with your senses wide open. These walks will be conducted at a deliberately slow and mindful pace in social silence without digital devices. All fitness levels are welcome. Please wear appropriate footwear for a walk through nature.

FREE “Along The Way: The Immigrant Experience, A Storytelling Workshop” (1:00pm-4:00pmpm)
Tell us your story! In this 3-hour workshop, we will explore, develop and share our life experiences and ‘stories along the way’ based on the theme of Immigration. Help bring your personal memories or family history to life through interactive games, activities and collaborative discussion in a safe and inviting environment.

Participants should bring a favorite memory or photograph, either a hard copy or on a device. Together, we’ll make a delicious story stew. Let’s find out how much we have in common! Zeiterion Theater.

The Mac Odom band at PUB6T5 (9:00pm-1:00am)
The Mac Odom Band performs a mix of old school funk, soul, R&B and pop. 736 Ashley Blvd, New Bedford, MA.

“Maiden New England” at the Bar (9:30pm-12:30am)
Maiden New England Iron Maiden cover band debut with guests “3 Points of Madness.” The Bar, 266 Dartmouth St, New Bedford.

Sunday, May 13th

12th Annual Mother’s Day Tiara 5K (7:00am-3:00pm)
Celebrate Mother’s Day in a different way this year. No breakfast in bed. No sleeping in. Instead, wrap around Ned’s Point lighthouse with your family and loved ones in Mattapoisett at the 12th Annual Women’s Fund Tiara 5K.

You don’t have to clock your fastest time – just the best time with those you love! Check out their Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/399176533868754/

Edaville Family Theme Park Activities (10:00am-5:00pm)
Come RIDE, ROAR, and EXPLORE at the exciting world of Edaville! With 3 PARKS IN 1, you can ride through Cran-Central, roar throughout Dino Land, and explore with Thomas & Friends through the magical Island of Sodor! Admission includes all rides & attractions. MA/RI Residents save up to $7 per date-specific ticket online only. Restrictions apply. Discount applied after applicable billing address entered. Edaville Family Theme Park, 5 Pine St. Carver.

Sunday Night Karaoke at PUB 6T5 (5:00pm-9:00pm)
Join us for Karaoke on Sunday nights from 5-9pm. Hosted by Mario Figueirido. 736 Ashley Blvd, New Bedford, MA.

_____________________________________________________

Want to sponsor this weekend guide? Contact info@newbedfordguide.com for more details.

Senate Assistant Majority Leader and Rules Committee Chairman Mark Montigny (D-New Bedford) voted today to pass legislation which will implement significant state dollars toward local public schools. Under this legislation, New Bedford stands to receive millions of dollars in additional state aid and will rank among the top five communities to receive the largest funding increase.

In 1993 the “Foundation Budget” was created to fund school districts across the Commonwealth based upon a specific formula. In 2015 the Foundation Budget Review Commission determined that the original formula required updates to reflect changes in health care and special education costs as well as increased resources to close the achievement gap for low-income and English Language Learner students.

S2325, passed by the Senate today, will implement the Commission’s recommendations through a staggered approach. Each year, the Secretary of Administration and Finance and the Senate and House Committees on Ways and Means are required to determine an implementation schedule to fulfill the recommendations by the Commission. This annual process will include a public hearing and allow for annual updates to the plan to reflect changes in enrollment, inflation, student populations or other relevant factors.

“We must do everything in our power to ensure all children, regardless of means, have all the resources they need to succeed in the classroom,” said Senator Montigny. “We cannot accept an achievement gap where students succeed based on what zip code they come from or whether they can afford tuition and other extraneous costs. This legislation implements the Commission’s recommendations through a realistic process and can lead to tens of millions in additional state aid to New Bedford.”

You just finished unloading your catch, it is 2:30 am in the middle of the winter and you have been up for over twenty-four hours straight. Tired, exhausted, beat up…yet somehow, deep down, you feel invincible. You know that what you just went through and how hard you pushed not only your body, physically, but also your mind, mentally, is nothing short of incredible.

You carry a pride that not many other people can understand unless they experienced it themselves. When you are out in the middle of the ocean and the guys around you and their families are depending on how hard you work and how much you produce on a daily basis, the same way you are relying on them, there are no sick days. There are no “watches,” aka shifts, where you are just too tired or don’t feel like working. Pain and fatigue are irrelevant. Sleep and food are like distant cousins, you look forward to seeing all day but it feels like its never often or for enough time.

So, you pack up your dirty clothes and sea bag and get ready to finally go home. You get to go home to your wife, your children, your family. A normal shower and full-size bed. But right before you take the final step back on land the Captain shouts “Be on standby, I will call and let you know when we are heading back out.” and this could mean you will be home two days or two weeks and everything is always subject to change.

Fast forward to the middle of your next trip. Its day six of a two-week trip. The lights are thrown on in your bunk and you hear a stern “next watch” from the Captain. You look at your clock and it’s 9:00 pm. By now your body is used to this schedule, it does not change.

Wake up and you have a mere twenty minutes to get dressed, grab a coffee, and head out onto the deck to start your shift. You will work non stop on your feet in the cold air and harsh weather conditions of the Atlantic Ocean in the winter time. Twenty, thirty-foot seas? Snow? Rain? Ice? All means nothing when you have scallops to catch.

During your watch you will either be standing in the “box,” shucking scallops or bent over in the pile, picking them. Sometimes through rocks and boulders or sand and mud. Sometimes through piles so big you can’t even see the guy on the other end. Oh yeah, all while moving and producing as fast as you can. Giving 100 percent effort 100 percent of the time.

When your watch is finally over and the scallops are cleaned, bagged, and put on ice in the fish hole, it is creeping up on 9:00 am. You rush in to eat the first meal you have had in the last sixteen hours which can be anything from a couple of hot dogs or burgers to a full breakfast or pork chops…depending on who’s cooking.

So finally you eat, wash up, get undressed, and crash into your bed. By bed I mean a hard mattress that has been there for the last fifteen years and probably has had hundreds of men in and out of it, smaller than an average twin sized mattress. If you are lucky, it is only about 9:30 am and you fall right asleep because you will be starting the cycle all over again in three and half hours at 1:00 pm. This will go on for what seems like forever – twelve hours on and four hours off, 12 on 4 off, for the entire two-week trip.

Did I mention while you were away you had no cell phone or internet service? You missed family birthdays, anniversaries, your child’s first steps or words. You missed the big game or the unfortunate death of a loved one. You couldn’t be there for your wife when she got bad news or got into a car accident. It really is not a glamorous lifestyle – many people only see the money and not the sacrifice. Sacrifice from not only the men and women who decide to make their living on the water but also from their other halves who hold down the entire household while you are gone.

Now, every trip and every boat is a little different and I have personally worked more hours, under more harsh conditions than this, and have also worked fewer hours with not as harsh conditions as this.. every boat, crew, and Captain have their own “style.”

I hope you guys enjoyed a small glance at what it takes physically and mentally to be a full-time commercial scalloper, through the eyes of someone who has been in the industry going on 10 years.

Thank you, and Much Respect
– Ryan Tavares/Slave Of The Sea

Did you make it out to the 5th Cinco de Mayo Festival in New Bedford this year?

Video by Arjenis Marcial.

New Bedford’s Mayor Jon Mitchell discusses the construction and long-term improvement on Union Street, and potholes that frustrate New Bedford drivers. 

Why have panhandlers increased in numbers in New Bedford over the last three years? Mayor Mitchell provides two reasons; court rulings and opioids.  

Meisum Bakery Inc. and its owner, Xi Xian Lei, were sentenced on April 24 in federal court in Boston in connection with a more than $740,000 food stamp fraud scheme that Lei and his employees operated out of a Chinatown bakery.

Meisum Bakery Inc. was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton to one year of probation and Lei was sentenced to one year and one day in prison and one year of supervised release. Lei and Meisum Bakery were also ordered to pay $747,134 in restitution. In November 2016, Meisum Bakery Inc. and Lei pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit SNAP (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program) benefits fraud and two counts of SNAP fraud.

SNAP, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), provides eligible households with government subsidies for food and allows holders to exchange their SNAP benefits for food at authorized retail food stores.

From about October 2010 through April 2012, Lei and Meisum Bakery employees purchased SNAP benefits from legitimate SNAP beneficiaries for cash at a discounted value of approximately 50 cents for every SNAP dollar; however, neither Meisum Bakery Inc. nor Lei was authorized to accept SNAP benefits as payment for goods at the bakery. Lei and Meisum Bakery employees subsequently redeemed the SNAP benefits by using the beneficiaries’ EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer) cards to buy goods and earn credit at stores that were authorized to accept SNAP benefits.

During the course of the conspiracy, Meisum Bakery Inc. and Lei defrauded the USDA of more than $740,000 in SNAP funds.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Bethanne M. Dinkins, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations, Northeast Region; Kristina O’Connell, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations in Boston; and Boston Police Commissioner William Evans, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert Richardson and Suzanne Sullivan Jacobus of Lelling’s Major Crimes Unit prosecuted the case.

Mayor Jon Mitchell represented the City of New Bedford at the Mayors’ Institute on Opioids hosted by the National League of Cities (NLC) on Wednesday, leading a delegation representing organizations in New Bedford.

New Bedford has taken a leadership role in working to prevent opioid abuse. The Greater New Bedford Opioid Prevention Task Force was formed three years ago to bring together key leaders and organizations to pool their efforts and have a greater impact. Co-Chaired by Dr. Michael Rocha and Police Chief Joe Cordeiro, with support from Reverend David Lima of the Interchurch Council and many other community groups, the Task Force has played an important role in several measures in New Bedford, including a drop-in center operating out of the Pilgrim United Church to provide support services and resources for both those struggling with opioid abuse and their families, as well as a program started in 2015 that brings outreach teams to homes within 24-48 hours of an overdose emergency. The joint teams are comprised of a plain-clothes police officer, a drug counselor, and clergyperson, and use the key period following an overdose to persuade those in need to agree to treatment.

New Bedford police are seizing the opportunity to encourage treatment at the very moment when someone is most in need of that message, given that police are often on the scene when someone suffering from opioid abuse is at a moment of acute medical or personal crisis. Also on the public safety front, New Bedford has been at the vanguard of communities deploying Narcan among its first responders.

In order to expand education and prevention early on, New Bedford Public Schools students receive consistent, age-appropriate substance use education from elementary school through high school, to ensure students build awareness in an age-appropriate manner before it is too late to begin to reach them. New Bedford’s public schools have also partnered with Physicians to Prevent Opioid Abuse, People Acting Against Chemical Addiction (PAACA), and Seven Hills to hold parent nights at schools with physicians to share prevention practices.

The Mayors’ Institute on Opioids, which took place in Boston, provided an opportunity for local leaders to engage in practical, solutions-oriented discussions and peer-to-peer learning opportunities. The immersive three-day event will be followed by 12 months of ongoing expert assistance tailored to each participating city’s needs, with the work building on local efforts already underway.

Cities participating in the Mayors’ Institute included Huntington, West Virginia; Knoxville, Tennessee; Madison, Wisconsin; Manchester, New Hampshire; New Bedford, Massachusetts; and Tacoma, Washington.

Participating mayors brought teams that included county and state officials. As is well recognized, there are no silver bullets and it will take cities working together and in collaboration with state and other local leaders to turn the tide to effectively address the challenge.

At the intensive three-day meeting, the group looked closely at their respective strengths and weaknesses and discussed key areas ranging from prevention, treatment and recovery to effective harm reduction efforts.

“Our country has struggled with how to respond to major substance abuse and mental health issues in the recent past, but we have an opportunity to learn from mistakes, and ultimately prevent and treat individuals suffering from addiction,” said NLC President and CEO Clarence E. Anthony. “We must continue to understand what’s working, what’s not and build stronger paths forward. Our only chance at confronting and overcoming the opioid epidemic is to work together.”

Going forward, NLC will share best practices from the Mayors’ Institute, as well as additional lessons learned from the cities during the year of technical assistance that follows. The goal over the coming months is to create a ripple effect and provide information and insights that help every city leader who is grappling with this crisis.

For more information on NLC’s longstanding work on the opioid crisis, including recommendations from our Opioid Task Force, click here.

To read the NLC Institute for Youth, Education, and Families (YEF Institute) backgrounder on the Mayors’ Institute on Opioids click here.

The National League of Cities is dedicated to helping city leaders build better communities. NLC is a resource and advocate for 19,000 cities, towns and villages, representing more than 218 million Americans. The Institute for Youth, Education, and Families, a special entity within the National League of Cities, helps municipal leaders take action on behalf of the children, youth, and families in their communities.

An MS-13 member pleaded guilty on Wednesday, May 9 in federal court in Boston to racketeering conspiracy involving the murder of a 16-year-old boy in East Boston.

Edwin Diaz, a/k/a “Demente,” 20, a Salvadoran national, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to conduct enterprise affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity, more commonly referred to as RICO or racketeering conspiracy. U.S. District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV scheduled sentencing for Aug. 20, 2018.

At today’s hearing, the Court accepted the defendant’s guilty plea but deferred acceptance of the plea agreement until the sentencing. Under the terms of the proposed plea agreement, Diaz will be sentenced to 35 years in prison and be subject to deportation upon completion of his sentence.

After a multi-year investigation, Diaz was one of dozens of alleged leaders, members, and associates of MS-13 named in a superseding indictment unsealed in January 2016 that targeted MS-13’s criminal activities in Massachusetts. Diaz is the 45th defendant to be convicted as part of that ongoing prosecution.

Diaz was a “homeboy,” or full member, of MS-13’s “Westers” clique. On Jan. 10, 2016, Diaz and other MS-13 members murdered a 16-year-old boy whom they believed to be a member of the rival 18th Street gang. The victim was stabbed and shot multiple times. A few days after the murder, Diaz was caught on tape admitting to stabbing the victim multiple times, and he was arrested soon thereafter.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; Peter Fitzhugh, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; Colonel Kerry A. Gilpin, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; Commissioner Thomas Turco of the Massachusetts Department of Corrections; Essex County Sheriff Kevin F. Coppinger; Suffolk County Sheriff Steven W. Thompkins; Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley; Middlesex County District Attorney Marian T. Ryan; Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett; Boston Police Commissioner William Evans; Chelsea Police Chief Brian A. Kyes; Everett Police Chief Steven A. Mazzie; Lynn Police Chief Michael Mageary; Revere Police Chief James Guido; and Somerville Police Chief David Fallon made the announcement.

The remaining defendants charged in this case are presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.