SOMERVILLE — On Thursday, April 18th, 2024, at approximately 12:42 p.m., Officer Priscilla Ribeiro of the Somerville Police Department was dispatched to a residence on Arlington Street following a report that a man had destroyed flower pots in the reporting party’s driveway.
(The account and quotations in this article were sourced from a summary of the incident written by Officer Ribeiro and do not reflect any political perspective or personal opinion of News Link Live, which is strictly a business entity.)
“While enroute, Officer Sergio Garcia, who was working a road construction detail, called units to state that the he was off with the male at [number redacted] Arlington Street and he identified the suspect as Mr. Henry Ventura. Mr. Ventura is well-known to Somerville police officers,” Officer Ribeiro said.
According to police, Henry Ventura, 49, is homeless in Somerville.
When Officer Ribeiro arrived at the scene, the person who reported the incident came out of the house and explained that earlier in the day, when he had gone outside, he encountered Ventura smashing his flower pots in the driveway.
“Mr. Ventura also smashed the basement window in the driveway, causing additional damage to the cement surrounding the window,” Officer Ribeiro recounted. “Mr. Ventura then yelled at [the reporting party], non-stop. [The reporting party] was unable to make out what Mr. Ventura was yelling about.”
The man added that while he doesn’t know Ventura personally, he used to see him all the time, yelling at people in the area. Approximately a month ago, the reporting party stated that Ventura started showing up in his driveway, and he would then ask him to leave.
“As officers were standing with Mr. Ventura, he continued to be uncooperative, yelling at [the reporting party] and his wife that he would ‘come back and do it again,’” Officer Ribeiro said. “I asked Mr. Ventura if he needed any medical attention, to which he declined; he even began to walk away, to demonstrate that ‘everything was working just fine.’”
Officer Ribeiro arrested Ventura for the following charges:
Malicious wanton destruction of property
- Malicious wanton destruction of property
- Threat to commit a crime
He was charged with an additional count of threat to commit a crime after he told Officer Ribeiro, “I’ll find you and mess you up. I’ll follow you around until I get you,” as he waited to be transported to the station for booking.
Officer Ribeiro noted, “He repeated that several times while asking me to release him.”
