Current Court Report - September 12, 2023

*This Court Report has been updated including comment from Jim Merberg - the attorney for Gilbert Holdgate - after Merberg was reached for comment early Wednesday afternoon*

This week’s Current Court Report includes arraignments and dispositions from Monday’s Nantucket District Court session.

Gilbert J. Holdgate, 62, of Nantucket was arraigned on July 9 charges of assault with a dangerous weapon (two counts), threatening to commit a crime, and a civil rights violation. He had not-guilty pleas entered on his behalf and was ordered to return to court Oct. 16 for a pretrial hearing.

According to the police report, Holdgate allegedly got into a verbal altercation with an individual who was unhappy with how Holdgate parked at the Stop & Shop at 9 Salem Street. The alleged victim told police that the third time Holdgate drove by him, Holdgate started yelling the n-word at him and then said “I will shoot you n****a, you f***ing n***a.”

The alleged victim then told police Holdgate proceeded to turn his wheel and drive in the direction of the victim in an attempt to hit him with his truck. The alleged victim had to jump out of the way of the vehicle as it drove past him, and then Holdgate allegedly put the truck in reverse and attempted to hit the man a second time.

The Current reached out to the office of Holdgate's attorney Jim Merberg seeking comment, and on Wednesday Merberg told the Current that Holdgate denies ever using the n-word and that they have a photograph of the "alleged victim" giving Holdgate the middle finger.

"I know that (Holdgate) says he didn't (use that word)," Merberg said. "This is a routine and common occurrence where people double park for the purpose of picking up somebody, blocking the way, and not letting people out when the Hy-Line comes in. By the way, we have a wonderful photograph of this alleged victim giving my client the one finger salute."

"People get animated unfortunately quite easily in that environment and this is not the first time this summer somebody had some sort of an interaction with another person based on this (downtown Stop & Shop traffic)," Merberg added.

In other Nantucket District Court news, Cade Larson Alami, 22, of Nantucket, had July 30 charges of assault & battery on a family/household member and malicious destruction of property under $1,200 dismissed after the alleged victim in the case declined to cooperate with prosecutors.

Jordan E. Delphos, 39, of Nantucket was arraigned on a Sept. 6 charge of assault on a family/household member. She had a not-guilty plea entered on her behalf and was ordered to return to court Oct. 2 for a pretrial hearing.

Deidre C. Hausslein, 29, of Nantucket was arraigned on a Sept. 6 charge of assault & battery on a family/household member. She had a not-guilty plea entered on her behalf and was ordered to return to court Nov. 27 for a pretrial hearing.

Kenneth L. King, 59, of Nantucket had the probation he was serving on a May 17, 2022 charge of operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol terminated after completing one year of probation without a violation.

After being continued without a finding for one year, Rodil O. Lemus, 48, of Nantucket, had an April 4, 2020 charge of assault and battery dismissed.

Carolyn Pfau, 43, of Texas was arraigned on Sept. 9 charges of operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, failure to stop/yield, carrying a firearm without a license, and improperly storing a firearm.

According to the police report, at approximately 11:50 p.m. on September 9 police pulled over Pfau on Blueberry Lane after she failed to yield to a police cruiser.

Pfau was arrested for an OUI and as an inventory of the vehicle was being conducted, police discovered a loaded revolver in the glove box on the passenger’s side of the vehicle. Police said Pfau was the lone occupant of the vehicle and does not hold an FID or LTC card in Massachusetts.

Delores Ramirez Interiono, 29, of Nantucket was arraigned on two Sept. 7 charges of assault & battery. She had not-guilty pleas entered on her behalf and was ordered to return to court Oct. 16 for a pretrial hearing.

Larry M. Ramirez, 44, of Miami, FL had April 24, 2022 charges of larceny under $1,200, vandalizing property, and trespassing dismissed.

Lesly X. Rosa Arita, 30, of Nantucket had three July 27 charges of assault & battery on a family/household member and one charge of assault with a dangerous weapon dismissed.

Trevor A. Smith, 63, of Nantucket had the probation he was serving on one May 16, 2019 charge operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol (third offense) and one charge of operating a motor vehicle without an ignition interlock device terminated after completing two years of probation without a violation.

Savannah Rose Twomey, 27, of Nantucket will have July 4 charges of assault and battery on a police officer, operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol, and a civil rights violation continued without a finding for one year on the condition she complete the probation without any violations and write a letter of apology to the victims in the case.

According to the police report, the victims in the case were a police officer who Twomey punched in the face with a closed fist and a firefighter who Twomey said she would “f*** you (the firefighter) up” before proceeding to refer to the firefighter, who is black, as a n-word while he was attempting to provide medical care to her. Twomey crashed her vehicle in the area of Old South Road/Fairgrounds Road on July 4.

Melanie A. Wernick, 62, of Wellesley was in court for a sentencing hearing after being found guilty on one charge of larceny under $1,200 during a bench trial last month by Judge James Sullivan. She was ordered to pay $1,199.99 in restitution and complete six months of probation. Wernick plans to appeal the guilty finding.

*All defendants are considered innocent until proven guilty under a court of law*