PROVIDENCE – Former Rhode Island House Finance Chairman Raymond E. Gallison, Jr., 64, of Bristol, R.I., pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Providence to federal mail fraud, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and tax charges, announced United States Attorney Peter F. Neronha and Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin.
Appearing before U.S. District Court Chief Judge William E. Smith, Gallison admitted to orchestrating wide-ranging fraudulent and deceptive schemes to steal private money and hide his misuse of public money. Gallison admitted to the theft of funds from the estate of a deceased individual to which he was appointed executor; theft of funds from a Special Needs Trust established to protect the long-term welfare of a disabled individual to which he was appointed trustee; providing false information on tax documents, including vastly inflating the number of students assisted by a non-profit organization funded by public money while failing to disclose amounts paid by that organization to him; and failure to pay taxes on income derived from his criminal actions.
Gallison pleaded guilty to four (4) counts of mail fraud; one (1) count of wire fraud; one (1) count of aggravated identity theft; one (1) count of aiding the filing of a false tax document; and two (2) counts of filing a false tax return.
At the time of his guilty plea, Gallison admitted to the court that:
As executor of an estate of an individual from Barrington, R.I., who passed away in February 2012, he devised and executed various schemes to steal or transfer to his own name and bank accounts, cash, checks, stocks and real property belonging to the deceased person and/or his estate, valued at a total of $677,454,10. Gallison will admit that he fraudulently used the name and social security number of the deceased person to execute a scheme to cause the liquidation of certain stocks belonging to the deceased person;
He caused the filing of a false tax document on behalf of Alternative Education Programming (AEP), a non-profit organization which provided educational programs to students who may need assistance with course work, and/or minority and/or disadvantaged students who may need financial or other assistance to gain an education, and of which Gallison was listed as Assistant Director. The tax document listed that $77,957 in tuition and related fees and expenses were paid for 47 students from July 1, 2012, through June 30, 2013. In fact, on behalf of AEP, Gallison paid only $3,137.29 to assist 2 students during that year and paid approximately $64,575 to himself and another person in wages and consulting fees for no work undertaken on AEP’s behalf;
As trustee for a disabled person’s Special Needs Trust, he defrauded the Trust by writing a check from the Trust account for $8,900, which he deposited into an AEP account. Gallison then wrote a check for $8,800 from the AEP account to pay an outstanding bill at the Community College of Rhode Island; and
He failed to claim a total of $622,286.17 in income on joint IRS tax returns for tax years 2012 and 2013, and, as a result of his relevant conduct from 2012-2015, Gallison failed to pay a total of $226,332.31 in taxes.
Gallison is scheduled to be sentenced on June 16, 2017. Based on statutory penalties, Gallison will serve, at a minimum, two years in federal prison.
During the course of the investigation law enforcement recovered more than $515,000 in assets stolen by the defendant from the estate for which he served as executor. Prior to the start of today’s change of plea hearing, the defendant provided to the court a check in the amount of $162,063.95, reflecting the balance of restitution due to the estate.
Restitution due to the IRS in the amount of $226,332.31 has not been paid.
Joining United States Attorney Peter F. Neronha and Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin in announcing Gallison’ s guilty plea is Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division; Joel P. Garland, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation; and Colonel Ann C. Assumpico, Superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police.
The matter was investigated by the United States Attorney’s Office, FBI, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, Rhode Island Department of the Attorney General, and the Rhode Island State Police.
The case is being prosecuted in federal court by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dulce Donovan and William J. Ferland, and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney James R. Baum of the Rhode Island Department of the Attorney General.
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