After Guns Found in Country Club Locker, RI Contractor Charged With Fraud Has Bail Revoked

Tuesday, April 18, 2023

GoLocalProv News Team

 

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A federal court magistrate has ordered Rhode Island contractor Ernest Ricci — who was arrested in March on charges of fraud and money laundering and posted bail — to now be detained in custody until trial. 

According to court documents filed in federal court on Monday and signed by U.S. Magistrate Patricia Sullivan, the reason for revoking Ricci’s bail is “by clear and convincing evidence that no condition or combination of conditions of release will reasonably assure the safety of any other person and the community.”

In the 18-page document, the federal government detailed how Ricci taunted both federal officials and both contacted and intimidated witnesses following his arrest — in violation of his bail agreement — and also possessed more weapons than he had declared to authorities. 

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The additional firearms, according to the federal government, were found in his locker at Alpine Country Club in Cranston. 

 

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As GoLocal reported on March 28, North Kingstown self-employed contractor Ricci — who “flipped houses” — and his wife, were both charged in federal court with executing schemes to conceal substantial assets from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Providence, as well as money laundering and wire fraud. 

Court documents allege that Ricci and his wife, Brenda L. Ricci, had been accruing large, outstanding debts to creditors and to the IRS dating back to 2004, and that they have engaged in conduct designed to evade their creditors since 2011. 

The filing on Monday alleges that almost immediately after Ricci posted bail, the federal government already began action to revoke it. According to the court filing: 

In this case, conditions of release were originally set following a detention hearing held at the initial appearance of Ricci (“Defendant”) on March 24, 2023…which provides that the Court may conduct a detention hearing on the motion of the government or the judicial officer’s own motion in a case that involves ‘serious risk that [the] person will obstruct or attempt to obstruct justice, or threaten, injure, or intimidate, or attempt to threaten, injure, or intimidate, a prospective witness or juror.’

One week later, the government had already moved for revocation, arguing that “clear and convincing evidence establishes that Defendant had already violated a critical condition and that his conduct during the intervening week had confirmed what the government had argued during the original detention hearing – that Defendant is unlikely to abide by any conditions or combination of conditions of release.”

The motion filed in court on Monday alleged Ricci contacted witnesses in violation of his bail terms — as well as had guns in his possession that he failed to disclose to authorities. 

The federal government in its filing for detainment said that following his arrest and prior to bail, Ricci “acknowledged ownership of one gun that had already been seized from his home. He specifically denied that there were any others.”

On March 30, law enforcement authorities said they received an anonymous tip that Ricci possessed a gun in his locker at Alpine Country Club.

According to the federal government, a club manager opened Ricci’s locker and found four semi-automatic pistols, but no magazines or ammunition.  An affidavit in Monday's filing includes the allegation that Ricci used the bank account of an entity that he no longer owned to buy ammunition.

The federal government said Ricci had been warned to fully disclose all of his weapons. 

“As represented by the government and pretrial services, Defendant’s supervising pretrial services officer spoke with him several times over the course of Monday, March 27, 2023, including specifically about compliance with the gun condition, yet Defendant did not tell her that he had four semi-automatic pistols in his locker at the Alpine Country Club. The supervising pretrial services officer also spoke with Defendant on Friday, March 31, 2023, prior to the commencement of the revocation hearing, yet Defendant also did not tell her (or any other representative of U.S. Probation/Pretrial Services) that on the previous day he had been in communication with personnel of the Cranston Police about the four semi-automatic pistols,” according to the filing in district court. 

“At the hearing on April 10, his attorney made the representation that Defendant understood that the gun question was limited to guns located in his residence. I do not find Defendant’s representation to be credible,” found Sullivan. 

“Based on the foregoing, I find that the government has established by a preponderance of the evidence that Defendant deliberately deceived U.S. Probation during the initial pretrial services interview and that he intentionally violated both the condition that he may not possess firearms while released on pretrial conditions and the condition that he must report as soon as possible to his supervising officer every contact with law enforcement,” Sullivan continued. “I further find that, having been warned that even a technical violation of a condition could lead to detention, Defendant’s violation of these conditions evidences his disregard and lack of respect for conditions, including that he will ignore conditions to the extent that he believes he will not get caught.”

Ricci is now in federal custody. 

This story was first published 4/17/23 5:16 PM

 

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