Press Releases
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November 2009 News Releases
11/20/09 Dimas Liranzo and Jeanette Hernandez-Javier, both of Providence, have pleaded guilty to cocaine trafficking charges, admitting that they received packages of cocaine that had been mailed from Puerto Rico ...more
11/19/09 A federal judge has sentenced two men to prison for being felons in possession of firearms ...more
11/19/09 Dennis Tasker, 38, of Providence, pleaded guilty today to robbing tellers at banks in Providence and Newport in July by using threatening notes ...more
11/18/09 Robert Beauparlant, Jr., 26, of Woonsocket, pleaded guilty today to robbing a Providence man of a half-kilogram of marijuana and $2,800 in cash and, in a separate case, to being a felon in possession of a firearm ...more
11/13/09 A federal judge has sentenced two former union officials and a contractor to probation and fined the union officials for participating in a scheme to funnel illegal payments to the union officials ...more
11/12/09 Ming Yan, who operates a computer store in North Providence, has pleaded guilty to causing the misbranding of the prescription drug sildenafil citrate, which is marketed as Viagara, and to copyright infringement ...more
11/6/09 Rodney Wilcox, 24, of Providence, pleaded guilty today to being a felon in possession of a firearm ...more
11/6/09 A federal judge today sentenced Craig Shacklock, 52, of Providence, to 92 months in prison for robbing a teller at a Citizens Bank branch in Providence in January and attempting a robbery at a downtown Providence bank earlier the same day ...more
11/3/09 A federal judge has found Stephfon Cover, 37, of Woonsocket, guilty of trafficking in crack cocaine ...more
11/3/09 A federal judge has sentenced Stiven F. Polanco, 22, of Providence, to ten years in federal prison for trafficking in heroin and possessing a gun ...more
11/2/09 United States Attorney Peter F. Neronha today announced the formation of the office leadership team ...more
October 2009 News Releases
10/26/09 Attorney General Eric Holder today announced the appointment of Rhode Island U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha and eight other U.S. Attorneys to the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee (AGAC) ...more
10/23/09 A federal judge has sentenced Marcos Castro Daly, 30, formerly of San Juan, Puerto Rico, to 60 months in federal prison for taking shipment of a kilogram package of cocaine that had been mailed from San Juan to an address in Providence ...more
10/23/09 A federal judge today sentenced Souvanh Keosouvanh, 29, of Providence, to 220 months in federal prison for leading a plot to rob drug dealers of cocaine ...more
10/22/09 Jonathan Rodriguez, 21, of Providence, pleaded guilty today to being a felon in possession of a firearm ...more
10/21/09 Eric Snead, 32, of Providence, and four other defendants have pleaded guilty to identity theft and credit card fraud for obtaining duplicate credit cards of victims’ accounts and using the cards at casinos ...more
10/20/09 A federal jury has found James Farrell, 66, most recently of Cranston, guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm ...more
10/7/09 Bruce Lapierre of Pascoag, R.I., was sentenced to 51 months in prison today for tax evasion and conspiracy to defraud the United States ...more
10/1/09 A federal judge today assessed the Southern Union Company $18 million for illegally storing mercury at a company-owned site in Pawtucket ...more
10/1/09 Lisa Torres, 40, formerly of Johnston, pleaded guilty today to a $1.7 million mortgage fraud scheme in which she purchased properties that had recently been foreclosed upon, and then used the names of straw purchasers in sham sales to finagle mortgage financing ...more
September 2009 News Releases
9/28/09 A federal judge has sentenced Brian Murphy, 39, formerly of Providence, to seven years in prison for distributing child pornography over the Internets ...more
9/22/09 A federal judge has sentenced Anthony Soares, 46, of Pawtucket, to 96 months in prison for a pair of bank robberies last September in Providence and Central Falls ...more
9/16/09 Chief U.S. District Court Judge Mary M. Lisi today administered the oath of office to Peter F. Neronha as U.S. Attorney for Rhode Island ...more
9/3/09 A federal judge today sentenced Paula Marcelli 40, of Woonsocket to two years in federal prison for a fraudulent check scheme that she and her husband, Edward Marcelli, 33, orchestrated ...more
9/3/09 A federal judge today sentenced Khek Choummalaithong, 30, of Providence, to 131 months in federal prison for taking part in a plot to rob drug dealers of cocaine in April 2007 ...more
August 2009 News Releases
8/7/09 A federal judge today sentenced Dolores Rodriguez LaFlamme, a former employee of the Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles, to three years in federal prison for producing fraudulent drivers’ licenses ...more
8/5/09 Craig Shacklock, 52, of Providence, pleaded guilty today to robbing a teller at a Citizens Bank branch in Providence in January and attempting a robbery at another Providence bank earlier the same day ...more
July 2009 News Releases
7/31/09 Nicholas Manocchio, the director of the New England Regional Organizing Fund (NEROF) of the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA), pleaded guilty today to conspiring to receive money and other things of value from building contractors ...more
7/29/09 A federal judge today sentenced Jose Hilario, 29, of Pawtucket, to 150 months in prison for possessing and distributing child pornography ...more
7/27/09 A federal judge today sentenced Josefina Lorenzi, age 47, of Providence, to time served for submitting a fraudulent claim to the United States Treasury ...more
7/1/09 Steven Allard, age 47, a resident of Scituate, Rhode Island, pleaded guilty today to Tax Evasion and Bankruptcy Fraud ...more
7/1/09 A federal jury has found Stiven F. Polanco guilty of trafficking 100 grams or more of heroin and of possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking ...more
June 2009 News Releases
6/30/09 Damon Foster, 34 of New York, New York has pled guilty to a single count indictment charging him with possessing two firearms after having been convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year imprisonment ...more
6/30/09 A federal judge today sentenced Andrew Snead, age 35, of Providence to 200months in federal prison for possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine, possession with intent to distribute cocaine powder, and possession with intent to distribute marijuana ...more
6/26/09 Jeffrey Patrick, 21 of Providence, Rhode Island, has pled guilty to a single count indictment charging him with distribution of five grams or more of cocaine base ...more
6/26/09 Keywion Brown, 19 of Providence and Keishon Johnson, 19 of Warwick, were indicted by a federal grand jury and charged with conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of cocaine base ...more
6/23/09 A federal grand jury has charged a North Carolina man with being a felon in possession of firearms ...more
6/22/09 The Department of Justice is honoring a team of agents and prosecutors in Rhode Island that developed a case resulting in the forfeiture of $2.7 million connected to the smuggling of illegal human Growth Hormone (hGH) from China into the United States ...more
6/15/09 Robert Clark Corrente, the United States Attorney for the District of Rhode Island has announced today that he plans to resign, effective at midnight on Friday, June 26, 2009 ...more
6/9/09 On June 1, 2009, a federal judge sentenced Leonard F. Roupe, age 51, a resident of Watertown, New York, to 21 months in federal prison for failing to register as a sex offender after taking up employment in Rhode Island ...more
6/9/09 Pasquale Scavitti, III, age 46, resident of Cranston, Rhode Island, pleaded guilty today to Wire Fraud ...more
May 2009 News Releases
5/28/09 Brian Murphy, 39, formerly of Providence, Rhode Island, pleaded guilty today to Distribution and Possession of Child Pornography ...more
5/19/09 Julio Candelario, a/k/a “Macho” age 29, Robert P. Beauparlant, Jr., a/k/a “Bibet” age 26, and Pedro L. Cuadrado, a/k/a “Pedy” age 20, all of Woonsocket, were indicted by a federal grand jury on May, 13, 2009, and charged in a nine count indictment with federal robbery, narcotics, and gun charges ...more
5/19/09 A federal judge last week sentenced Joseph M. Fry, 25, of Newport, Rhode Island, to 120 months in federal prison for distribution of 11.5 grams of crack cocaine ...more
5/15/09 A federal judge today sentenced Angela Raposa, age 33, a resident of Riverside, Rhode Island, to 24 months in federal prison for Wire Fraud ...more
5/15/09 A federal judge today sentenced Angela Raposa, age 33, a resident of Riverside, Rhode Island, to 24 months in federal prison for Wire Fraud ...more
5/12/09 A federal judge today sentenced Jesus Nater, 30, to 37 months in prison for making approximately $100,000 in counterfeit $20 and $40 bills ...more
April 2009 News Releases
4/30/09 A federal judge has sentenced Jeffrey Martinez, 25, of Providence, to five years in prison for accepting delivery of a package containing two kilograms of cocaine that had been mailed from Puerto Rico ...more
4/30/09 A federal grand jury has charged Eric Snead, 32, of Providence, and three other defendants with identity theft and credit card fraud for allegedly obtaining duplicate cards of credit card customers and using the cards at casinos, auto club service centers, and retail stores ...more
4/23/09 A federal judge today sentenced Carmine DeTomasis, a pharmacist, to a year in prison, followed by 18 months home confinement, for illegally buying and selling pharmaceuticals and defrauding health care insurers ...more
4/23/09 A federal judge today sentenced Nancy Alexander, 67, of Coventry, to a year in prison for a fraud involving about $1.7 million in counterfeit checks and money orders ...more
4/13/09 A federal judge has sentenced Karim Abdullah to 224 months in prison for trafficking in crack cocaine and being a felon in possession of firearms ...more
4/10/09 A federal judge today sentenced Robert A. Urciuoli, the former president of Roger Williams Medical Center, to three years in federal prison for corruptly employing former Rhode Island Senator John Celona to advance the Medical Center’s interests in the General Assembly ...more
March 2009 News Releases
3/13/09 A federal grand jury has charged Rocco DeSimone, of Johnston, with conning an inventor and defrauding investors with fraudulent claims about marketing three inventions ...more
3/5/09 Josefina Lorenzi, of Providence, pleaded guilty today to submitting a fraudulent claim to the United States Treasury. Lorenzi admitted that she participated in a scheme to obtain fraudulent refund checks ...more
February 2009 News Releases
2/27/09 A federal judge today sentenced Alvin Murray, 34, to ten years in prison for a robbery at a Sovereign Bank branch in Cumberland in June ...more
2/20/09 Eric Smyth, of Newport, pleaded guilty today to cocaine trafficking. In October, DEA Task Force agents and police detectives seized about two pounds of cocaine from Smyth ...more
2/11/09 A federal grand jury has charged seven men with various drug trafficking and firearms offenses in connection with an undercover investigation based at a Providence convenience store ...more
2/10/09 Three Rhode Island men have admitted selling thousands of contraband cigarettes in packages without the required Rhode Island state tax stamps ...more
2/9/09 A federal complaint filed in Providence charges Anthony St. Laurent, Sr. with solicitation to commit murder-for-hire ...more
2/6/09 A federal judge today sentenced Paul Vittorio, a former North Providence Police officer, to five months in prison plus five months home confinement for tipping off a drug dealer that he was under investigation ...more
January 2009 News Releases
1/30/09 A federal judge today sentenced Michael Bermudez, a former contract security guard at Rhode Island Hospital, to 39 months in prison for credit card fraud and identity theft ...more
1/29/09 Leonard F. Roupe pleaded guilty today to failing to register as a sex offender after taking up employment in Rhode Island. Roupe, who was convicted in Georgia of child molestation, traveled to Rhode Island last April with a carnival company ...more
1/26/09 A federal judge today sentenced Patrick Crowe, most recently of Florida, to four years in federal prison for stealing nearly $350,000 in payroll deductions for health insurance premiums and payroll taxes from two trucking firms that he owned for brief periods in 2004. ...more
1/21/09 Steven R. Ricci, an employee of C&C Rhode Island, a Providence-based metal plating and finishing company, pleaded guilty today to falsifying hazardous waste inspection logs that the company maintained ...more
1/20/09 A federal judge today sentenced Michael Macaruso, an asbestos abatement contractor, to two years in prison for extorting kickbacks from his employees and failing to report about $280,000 in income on his tax returns ...more
1/16/09 A federal judge today sentenced Daniel McGlone, of New Jersey, to two years in prison for a conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids and human growth hormone (HGH) ...more
1/9/09 A federal judge today sentenced David R. Cahill to 63 months in prison for a string of robberies he committed at banks and drug stores in Rhode Island ...more
1/8/09 Bernadine Urbanowicz, a former bookkeeper at Ledgemont Country Club in Seekonk, pleaded guilty today to bank fraud, admitting that she stole about $375,000 from the club over the course of five years by forging signatures on checks made out to petty cash ...more.
December 2008 News Releases
12/18/08 A federal judge today sentenced Daniel Tejeda, 22, of Providence, to 41 months in prison for robbing a Sovereign Bank branch in Providence and also for stealing identity information from a fellow Marine at a training camp ...more.
12/12/08 A federal judge has sentenced Omar Altamarino-Nunez to 151 months in prison and Idelfonso Betancourt-Rodriguez to 51 months for their roles in smuggling 29 kilograms of cocaine that was destined for Rhode Island ...more.
12/11/08 A federal judge has sentenced Raymond Texeira, formerly of Newport, to 151 months in prison for trafficking in about three ounces of cocaine in Providence ...more.
12/10/08 A federal judge today sentenced Michael DiTomasso to 30 months in prison for failing to register as a sex offender after moving from Milford, Massachusetts, to Woonsocket last year
...more.
12/5/08 A federal judge today sentenced travel agent Frank Serio to 15 months in prison for defrauding eight airlines and Amtrak out of $571,000 in a bogus ticket refund scheme ...more.
12/1/08 Edward Marcelli, of Woonsocket, has pleaded guilty to orchestrating a check fraud scheme in which he and other individuals used bad checks at retail stores in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts to purchase more than $280,000 worth of merchandise ...more.
12/1/08 Angela Raposa, who owned Title America Closing Services, pleaded guilty today to a federal fraud charge, admitting that she used about $1.3 million from her company’s escrow account to pay for personal expenses ...more.
November 2008 News Releases
11/24/08 A federal grand jury has charged Nicholas Manocchio, an employee of the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA), Harold Tillinghast, a former LIUNA employee, and Gerald Diodati, a construction contractor, with conspiring to make and receive unlawful payments ...more.
11/21/08 A federal judge has sentenced Robert Cruz, 29, to ten years in prison for trafficking in heroin and possessing a firearm ...more.
11/19/08 Nancy Alexander, of Coventry, pleaded guilty today to a federal fraud charge involving about $1.7 million in counterfeit checks and money orders ...more.
11/19/08 Carmine DeTomasis, a pharmacist and co-owner of Prime Drug on Cranston Street, Providence, pleaded guilty today to misbranding drugs, illegally distributing controlled substances, and health care fraud ...more.
11/18/08 Jesus Nater, 29, pleaded guilty today to making counterfeit $20 bills, admitting that he made thousands of dollars in bogus twenties and passed bills at various places in the Providence vicinity ...more.
11/14/08 A federal grand jury has charged three Rhode Island men with selling thousands of contraband cigarettes in packages without the required Rhode Island state tax stamps ...more.
11/12/08 A federal jury today found Dolores Rodriguez LaFlamme, a former employee of the Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles, guilty of producing fraudulent drivers’ licenses that she and coconspirators sold to individuals ...more.
11/7/08 A federal jury has found Roberto Valerio, a former clerk at a Cranston RadioShack store, guilty of conspiracy and credit card fraud for helping a former hospital security guard obtain cell phones and fraudulent credit card accounts ...more.
October 2008 News Releases
10/30/08 United States Attorney Robert Clark Corrente has appointed Assistant U.S. Attorney Terrence P. Donnelly to serve as the federal District Election Officer for Rhode Island for the 2008 general election ...more.
10/28/08 Harold Tillinghast, a former Rhode Island-based organizer for Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA), and Gerald Diodati, a construction contractor, have been charged in a federal complaint with conspiring to make and receive unlawful payments ...more.
10/28/08 Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie S. Browne has recently returned from a ten-month legal detail in Iraq. As the Regime Crimes Liaison, Ms. Browne oversaw an American group ...more.
10/23/08 A federal judge today sentenced Charlie Vu, of Jersey City, New Jersey, to 30 months in prison for money laundering ...more.
10/23/08 A federal judge has sentenced Carol M. DiPina, of Providence, to ten years in prison for drug distribution and health care fraud ...more.
10/22/08 Vincent D’Elia, owner of Falcon Maintenance Company, of Johnston, pleaded guilty today to illegally hiring undocumented aliens ...more.
10/16/08 The United States Attorney’s Office has charged Vincent D’Elia, operator of Falcon Maintenance Company, of Johnston, with illegally hiring undocumented aliens ...more.
10/15/08 A federal jury in Providence has found the Southern Union Company, the Texas-based former owner of the New England Gas Company, guilty of illegally storing mercury at a Pawtucket site ...more.
10/6/08 A federal jury today found Robert A. Urciuoli, the former president of Roger Williams Medical Center, guilty of corruptly employing former Rhode Island Senator John Celona to advance the Medical Center’s interests in the General Assembly ...more.
10/2/08 A federal grand jury has charged Tarek W. Wehbe, a physician who practiced in Rhode Island, with health care fraud, illegal distribution of controlled substances, and money laundering ...more.
September 2008 News Releases
9/29/08 A federal judge today sentenced Michael R. Robitaille, of Coventry, to 30 months in prison for bank fraud. In April, Robitaille admitted that he kited fraudulent checks ...more.
9/25/08 Louis Romanelli, 81, of Providence, pleaded guilty today to more than a dozen charges in connection with the illegal sale of prescription drugs and controlled substances such as hydrocodone and oxycodone ...more.
9/25/08 A federal judge has sentenced Kenny Barnes, of Woonsocket, to 130 months in federal prison for trafficking in crack cocaine ...more.
9/18/08 Gail DeSimone, of Johnston, pleaded guilty today to harboring a prisoner, admitting that she helped her husband, Rocco DeSimone, escape from a federal prison in New Jersey ...more.
9/17/08 Jon Wilk, of Wakefield, pleaded guilty today to income tax evasion, admitting that he failed to report about $648,000 in income that he earned through his masonry company ...more.
9/12/08 A federal judge today sentenced Jeffrey Rock, of Camarillo, California, to nine months in community confinement and six months home confinement for trafficking in human Growth Hormone (hGH) that he illegally obtained from Australia and China ...more.
9/11/08 A federal jury today found Jesus M. Gonzales, of Providence, guilty of three charges in an attempt to take delivery of a package containing almost a kilogram of cocaine and 24 pounds of marijuana ...more.
The following press releases were issued by the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Rhode Island.
Copies of indictments and other publicly available court documents can be obtained from the United States District Court in Providence at http://www.rid.uscourts.gov/.
Press releases remain on this site for four months from the time of posting and then are automatically removed. If you are seeking a press release issued longer than four months ago contact the Public Affairs Officer directly.
An indictment or information is an accusation.
A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
All press inquiries should be made to
Thomas Connell
Public Affairs Officer
(401) 709.5032
thomas.connell@usdoj.gov