Thomaston man charged with threatening after stabbing watermelon

By Isaac Avilucea

BANTAM >> A Thomaston man is accused of stabbing a watermelon with a butcher knife and leaving it in the kitchen for a woman to see, in what police describe as a “passive aggressive” swipe that landed him in custody. She was unnerved by what she perceived to be a menacing gesture directed at her and reported it to police.

On Monday, Carmine Cervellino, 49, of 126 Hickory Hill Road, was arraigned in Bantam Superior Court on charges of second-degree threatening and disorderly conduct. He is at liberty after posting a $500 bond and had his case referred to Family Services.

The woman said she felt Cervellino was resorting to “passive aggressive” tactics to “intimidate her because he is angry at her,” Thomaston Officer Keith Koval wrote in a report.

Initially, the woman came to police headquarters the morning of July 4 to report finding a plastic bag of marijuana and a pill container — with her name — which had Percocet and an unidentified blue pill inside. It was hidden in Cervellino’s tool box, she told police.

She snatched them up, took pictures with a cell phone camera and stowed them away in her room. Later, when the woman returned home, she found the drugs missing, she claims, but she showed police the photos. Cervillino is not facing any drug charges.

The woman returned a second time and was greeted by the sight of a watermelon, pierced by Cervillino’s large butcher knife, sitting on the kitchen counter top, police said.

Cervillino walked in seconds later, and without saying anything, began slicing pieces of the watermelon. The woman snapped a picture of the knife and turned it over to police.