Raymond Punturieri, 33, of Manchester

MANCHESTER — Officers who responded to an apartment at 141 West St. to check on a report of a child needing medical attention found a locked door through which they could hear a child inside the apartment, police said.

The officers announced themselves and knocked on the door, but when nobody answered they forced open the door out of concern for the well-being of the child they heard and anyone else inside.

Police said that once inside, the officers initially came across a man and two young children sitting on a bed. They determined that the man, whom they identified as Raymond Punturieri, age 33, had placed the call for help, but because Punturieri was “talking incoherently” the officers weren’t able to get any information out of him, police said.

But a quick look around the room told the officers enough for them to have the two children transported to a local hospital for observation: More than 100 needles, many of them uncapped, were scattered around the room.

Some were found on a nightstand next to the bed, others were found on the floor, and a few more were discovered on the bed next to the children, police said.

The officers also found other drug paraphernalia in the room, the nature of which they didn’t identify.

Further, the officers learned that a domestic violence-related incident “involving a woman” had allegedly taken place earlier in the night.

Police charged Punturieri with numerous offenses, including two counts of reckless conduct with a deadly weapon, Class B felonies; along with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, and one count each of simple assault-domestic violence, criminal threatening-domestic violence, and resisting arrest, all Class A misdemeanors.

Punturieri was also found to have an outstanding warrant for his arrest in another jurisdiction, which police didn’t identify.

He was booked on the charges and ordered held without bail on preventive detention pending arraignment, which took place Monday in Hillsborough County Superior Court North.

Following the hearing, the preventive detention order was continued, according to the case summary. Punturieri’s next scheduled court appearance is a dispositional conference on April 20.

In the meantime, police ask anyone who may have additional information regarding the incident to contact the department at 668-8711, or call its Crime Line at 624-4040.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.