Crime and Corruption Rhode Island Style

Providence Parks Department Embezzlement Kathleen M. Parsons, a former Parks Department employee, confessed to embezzling and gambling away $26,981 from Parks Department accounts. In a plea bargain with the attorney general, she was sentenced to two years’ unsupervised probation and made full restitution — which does not count as a criminal conviction under Rhode Island law.



State and federally prosecuted public corruption cases in Rhode Island



FAQ’s Federally prosecuted public corruption cases

Operation Plunder Dome Led to the downfall and imprisonment of former Providence Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. and one of his top aides, Frank E. Corrente; the imprisonment of car-garage owner Richard E. Autiello, Joseph A. Pannone, chairman of the city’s tax board; Deputy Tax Assessor Rosemary Glancy and City Collector Anthony E. Annarino Jr.; and home-confinement sentences for David C. Ead, the former vice chairman of the city’s Board of Tax Assessment Review, and lawyers John A. Scungio and Angelo Mosca Jr.


Operation Dollar Bill Resulted in the imprisonment of former state Sen. John A. Celona, for selling his office for personal gain, and the former chief executive officer of Roger Williams Medical Center in Providence, Robert A. Urciuoli, for bribing Celona to promote the hospital’s political agenda at the State House. Also imprisoned as part of Operation Dollar Bill was former House Majority Leader Gerard M. Martineau, who pleaded guilty to a $911,400 corruption scheme in which he sold plastic bags to CVS and Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island — including accepting a payment for 8 million Blue Cross bags that never existed — in return for acting favorably on legislation for the companies.


The Lincoln Park Corruption Probe Two Lincoln Park executives, Nigel Potter and Daniel Bucci, were convicted of mail fraud for scheming to pay $4 million in bribes to former House Speaker John B. Harwood. No bribes were paid, but prosecutors successfully argued that the conspiracy was intended to sway Harwood — who was never charged — to use his power to help Lincoln Park secure more video slot machines and to block a rival casino.


The North Providence Corruption Probe Three North Providence councilmen, Joseph S. Burchfield, John A. Zambarano and Raymond L. Douglas III all stand accused of accepting a $25,000 bribe from a developer to support construction of Stop & Shop supermarket. Also charged in the bribery case are former North Providence Town Solicitor Robert S. Ciresi and developer Edward Imondi of North Providence.

State prosecuted cases

Raymond T. “Chip” Hoyas Jr. The former top state Senate aide faces 54 felony charges for allegedly forging the names of Senate pages to steal about $70,000.


Sen. John A. Celona Celona, who headed the powerful Senate Corporations Committee that controlled health-care legislation, was charged by state prosecutors with using his office for personal gain in connection with private financial deals, including one with Roger Williams Medical Center. The case stemmed from a parallel state/federal investigation of State House corruption. After Celona finished serving his 2 1/2-year federal sentence, he was sent to the Adult Correctional Institutions to serve the balance of a 4-year state sentence.


Operation Deception Four Providence police officers — Detective Joseph Colanduono, Patrolman Robert Hamlin, Sgt. Stephen Gonsalves and Detective Robert M. Enright — are charged in an 89-count indictment with being involved in a high-level drug ring.


Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island Although no criminal charges were filed, Lynch went after Blue Cross management in 2004, denouncing what he said were the insurer’s special deals for executives and high administrative expenses. In the aftermath, Blue Cross President Ronald A. Battista was terminated without cause and left the company with a $3.1-million severance package.


Beacon Mutual Insurance Co. Two former executives at Beacon, the state’s largest provider of workers’ compensation insurance, stand indicted. David R. Clark is charged with insurance fraud in connection with his work at his former employer; Joseph A. Solomon, the former CEO, is charged with stealing from the company and obtaining money under false pretenses. The charges accuse him of using company proceeds to buy diamond jewelry and having the nonprofit mutual make a $5,000 payment to cover part of the cost of an audio/video system at his home. The state indictments followed a federal probe of Solomon from which no federal charges emerged.


Lincoln Public Corruption Case Former Lincoln Town Administrator Jonathan Oster was found guilty of bribery charges; also convicted was former Lincoln Planning Board member Robert R. Picerno. Prosecutors alleged that the two set up a system to extort money from people doing business in the town. Oster committed suicide in his law office the morning after the jury’s verdict. Picerno was sentenced to 3 years in the Adult Correctional Institutions.


Rhode Island Board of Elections Fraud Case Robert Fontaine, who was the executive director of the board, pleaded no contest to three felony charges of obtaining money under false pretenses. As part of a plea deal, he was ordered to pay $12,175 in restitution; prosecutors recommended no jail time and he got suspended sentences. Fontaine was charged with filing false travel reimbursement requests, putting in for holiday/overtime pay he wasn’t entitled to and arranging to have his daughter and brother paid for time they didn’t work.


Judge Marjorie Yashar Pension Case Attorney general’s office went to court and won a case that slashed former Traffic Tribunal Judge Marjorie R. Yashar’s pension by 25 percent after she began collecting 100 percent of her salary upon retirement. She had taken unpaid leave for eight months before her 20 years of service mark, following her arrest on a domestic simple assault charge that was later dropped. She returned to court for one day in September 2005, after her 20-year anniversary, and retired the next day. Yashar claimed she’d retired only after being promised by the Supreme Court administrator J. Joseph Baxter Jr. that she’d receive a full pension.


Providence Parks Department Embezzlement Kathleen M. Parsons, a former Parks Department employee, confessed to embezzling and gambling away $26,981 from Parks Department accounts. In a plea bargain with the attorney general, she was sentenced to two years’ unsupervised probation and made full restitution — which does not count as a criminal conviction under Rhode Island law.