RANGELEY — A deputy warden at a Rhode Island prison faces charges of going into a condo and taking four wine glasses over the weekend, police said Monday.

Officer Ron Wood issued court summonses to Robert Vitale, 48, of Foster, R.I., and William Kessler, 49, of Athol, Mass., charging each with felony burglary and misdemeanor theft by unlawful taking, Rangeley police Chief Dennis Leahy said Monday.

A Pennsylvania couple were at Moose Alley Restaurant on Main Street on Saturday for the annual Busch Sport Scene winter charity event when the woman returned to their rented condo, saw two men inside and went back to the restaurant to tell her male companion, Leahy said.

The couple went back to the condo, where they saw the men still inside and watched them leave with wine glasses from their kitchen, Leahy said.

Kessler told them, “’I used to own this place and I still have the keys,’” Leahy said.

Police, after talking with the couple, went to another condo in the same complex and found Vitale and Kessler, he said. Kessler repeated to police that he used to own the condo and still had the keys, Leahy said.

Advertisement

The two were given summonses to appear in Franklin County Superior Court in Farmington on March 25.

Officer Wood said an investigator from the Rhode Island prison where Vitale works called Leahy on Monday about the case.

According to the Web site, www.doc.ri.gov/institutions/facilities/price.php, Vitale is listed as a deputy warden at the Donald Price medium security facility in Cranston, R.I.

The keys were returned to the landlord, Leahy said.

dperry@sunjournal.com


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.