LEOMINSTER —On Monday, Nov. 6, 2023, at approximately 4:35 p.m., Officers Shane Crawford and Christian Edge of the Leominster Police Department were dispatched to the parking lot of Water Tower Plaza following a report of a man and woman screaming at one another in a vehicle.
(The account and quotations in this article were taken from the printed Personnel Narrative of Officer Crawford.)
“Upon arrival Officer Jo Ramos was conducting the investigation in regard to the disturbance,” Officer Crawford explained. “I then began speaking with a male party. This male party had stated that he was assaulted and choked by [a woman] and that he did not want to press charges. Please note that the altercation that this male was involved in was loud and volatile enough to draw the attention of several citizens and have citizens physically intervene to help this male.”
When Officer Crawford asked the man for a form of identification, he said he didn’t have one on him. He then told the officer his name was Maximiano Silva, giving a birth date of 7/3/1992 and a social security number.
Officer Edge – who recognized the man – told Officer Crawford he looked like Christipher Silva, a 32-year-old Hudson resident with two warrants out for his arrest.
Officer Crawford then ran Maximiano’s information on the mobile data terminal in his cruiser and pulled up an RMV photo.
“While I did notice a resemblance between the two, I did not believe that this was actually Maximiano, but a relative,” Officer Crawford said. (Maximiano is actually the man’s cousin). “I then returned to this male and informed him that I believed he was lying to me about his identity. I asked him for any sort of picture ID that could prove who he was. This male became increasingly more agitated and nervous sticking to the fact that he is Maximiano Silva. Please note I did warn this male multiple times that if he continued to lie about his identity in an effort to hinder my investigation, that he would be charged with Obstruction of Justice. This male continued to say that he was Maximiano Silva.”
Officer Edge then showed Officer Crawford an image of Christopher Silva (with a birth date of 12/06/1990) that he had pulled up on the mobile data terminal in his cruiser.
“I then looked at the RMV photo and noticed an EXTREME resemblance to the male I was speaking with,” Officer Crawford said.
Once again, Officer Crawford returned to the vehicle to ask the man for his real identity. He kept asserting that he was Maximiano.
“At this time, I believed that he was actually Mr. Christopher Silva and not Mr. Maximiano Silva. Please note that I noticed that Christopher had two active warrants. Given this information, I did detain this male in handcuffs, until I could positively identify him. While handcuffing Mr. Silva, I noticed a tattoo on his wrist of ‘12-6-90,’ please note that is Chritopher’s date of birth. I then warned him again as I saw the birthday tattoo on his wrist, that he would be charged if he didn’t properly identify himself. Mr. Silva then stated that he was Maximiano. He was secured in the rear of my cruiser.”
Officer Edge then video called Lieutenant Michael Vroom of the Hudson police, who is familiar with Christopher Silva.
When Officer Edge tried to show Lt. Vroom Silva’s face on the video chat, Silva tried to conceal himself by turning his head away from the phone. But Lt. Vroom caught a glimpse and confirmed that the man was, in fact, Christopher Silva and not Maximiano Silva.
According to court documents, Christopher M. Silva, 32, is a resident of 22 High Street in Hudson. He’s single and works as a framer for Bryant Construction in Ashburnham.
“At this point I informed Mr. Silva that he was under arrest for the warrants as well as Obstruction of Justice,” Officer Crawford said. “Mr. Silva then began stating that he wanted medical attention. An ambulance was requested, and he was transported to the hospital. Once at the hospital Mr. Silva continued to try and plead his case that he was Maximiano. He also continually pleaded with me not to charge him with Obstruction of Justice. After another long period of lies and dishonesty he finally admitted that he was indeed Mr. Christopher Silva. Mr. Silva admitted that he had ‘three years’ hanging over his head and was afraid of going back to jail. Mr. Silva directly and willfully attempted to mislead my investigation through lying about his identity with the knowledge that he had current warrants for his arrest. This was an attempt to misdirect and impede my ongoing criminal investigation.”
In addition to the warrants out for his arrest, Silva was charged with Witness/Juror/Police/Court Official, Intimidate.
The nature of the warrants out for Silva’s arrest were not specified in the report.
Silva was arraigned in Leominster District Court on Nov. 7, 2023.
Disclaimer: If you are wondering why the incident in this story was from November, that’s because I had to file FOIA request(s) to get the court documents for the incident. FOIAs are time consuming.
