The former Plymouth schools’ food services manager accused of stealing food, equipment, and other goods to use at his beach snack bar is asking a judge to free him from home confinement and electronic monitoring. Patrick VanCott, 63, pled not guilty to larceny at his arraignment in June. A district court judge originally ordered him […]
Author Archives: Andrea Estes - Independent Staff
Posted inGovernment
A traffic stop upends an immigrant family’s new life
Betty was eager to share the story of how her happy life in Massachusetts was upended when ICE agents grabbed her husband last month. But she didn’t attend last Monday’s Town Hall forum on immigration detention sponsored by the Plymouth Area League of Women Voters. Betty said she feared Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials […]
Posted inPolice & Fire
Judge orders home invasion suspect held pending trial
The man accused of attacking a well-known local chef inside his North Plymouth home last month will remain in jail until trial, a judge ruled Thursday. After a 30-minute dangerousness hearing, Plymouth District Court Judge Shelby Smith granted a prosecutor’s request to keep Jose Juarez, 38, behind bars until at least January. Plymouth County Assistant […]
Posted inPolice & Fire
Armed man subdued by police at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital
A man carrying a bayonet and a pistol triggered a lockdown at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Plymouth Saturday morning, according to police and two staff members who were there. The hospital issued a “Code Silver,” a signal alerting staff that an active shooter or a person with a weapon was in the facility and they should […]
Posted inPolice & Fire
Boys & Girls club staffer faces charges related to photographing, touching child
His mother knew something was wrong when she picked up her seven-year-old son from summer camp on the afternoon of August 11. He was afraid to say what was bothering him — he’d been warned “not to tell his mommy or daddy what happened,” Plymouth police reported. But the child eventually told his mother – […]
Posted inPolice & Fire
Local chef uses hammer to fend off attacker inside his home
Imagine being jolted awake by someone screaming. At first you think it’s your roommate. Then you realize the voice is a stranger’s. That’s what happened at about 8 a.m. on August 15 when Mike Wisdom found an unhinged man inside his North Plymouth home. A vicious assault and struggle took place. After several minutes, […]
Posted inBusiness
Town claims victory in battle over Atlantic Country Club. For now.
The town has succeeded, at least for now, in blocking a large residential development on the site of the Atlantic Country Club in South Plymouth. Select Board chair Kevin Canty said Wednesday that he was told by the town’s lawyer that the club’s prospective buyer had withdrawn his offer to purchase the property. “We’re very […]
Posted inGovernment
Officials knew about pornographic cyberattacks long before recent breach
Members of the Plymouth school community were shocked last Monday night when a hacker interrupted a virtual school committee meeting by posting a full-screen, grainy picture of a man engaging in a sex act. Swastikas appeared in two corners. At the bottom of the screen were the words “HACKED BY CCP JAY.” A computer-generated […]
Posted inBusiness
300-unit 40b apartment complex OK’d, with a silver lining
The Plymouth Zoning Board of Appeals Monday night unanimously approved a slightly scaled-down version of the developer’s plans to build 300 apartments at Colony Place. Although the massive development faced opposition from neighbors, it puts the town in a position to reject future so-called 40b affordable housing projects, at least temporarily. AvalonBay Communities, one of […]
Posted inPolice & Fire
Hacker disrupts school board Zoom meeting with pornographic image, swastikas
A Plymouth School Committee meeting being held on Zoom was cut short Monday night after a hacker took over the screen, replacing it with a grainy picture of a man engaged in a sex act, according to screenshots shared with the Independent. Swastikas could be seen on two corners of the screen, and at the […]