Years After Subpoenas Issued, AG Brings Charges Against Two North Providence Police Officers
Tuesday, January 31, 2023
In June of 2022, GoLocal unveiled that two North Providence Police officers were the subject of a grand jury investigation.
GoLocal had secured a copy of a subpoena issued by a federal grand jury requesting financial information linked to two North Providence Police officers.
The subpoena was issued to the City of North Providence in March of 2020 and requested testimony before the grand jury and the production of documents relating to Dennis Stone — a Lieutenant with the North Providence Police Department — and fellow officer Detective Christopher Petteruti.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTFor a number of years, the two were top officers in the Fraternal Organization of Police (FOP) in North Providence.
Now, years later, Attorney General Peter Neronha has announced that a Statewide Grand Jury has returned indictments charging one current and one former member of the North Providence Police Department with multiple felony counts, including embezzlement and filing false tax returns.
The charges stem from an investigation by the Office of the Attorney General and the United States Department of Labor, Office of the Inspector General and Office of Labor Management Standards, into the alleged embezzlement of funds of North Providence Lodge of the FOP.
On January 30, 2023, the statewide grand jury returned an indictment charging Stone with three counts of embezzlement over one hundred dollars and six counts of filing a false tax return. The jury also returned an indictment charging Petteruti with two counts of embezzlement over one hundred dollars.
Stone retired in the past few weeks.
At a hearing on January 31, 2023, the secret indictments were unsealed, and the defendants were arraigned in Providence County Superior Court.
According to Neronha's office;
"As alleged in the indictments, the defendants, as members of the executive board of the North Providence Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, used their access to union bank accounts to embezzle funds for personal expenses. It is alleged that as president of the local union, former Lt. Stone embezzled funds for personal use, including meals at a restaurant, online study materials for promotional purposes within the police department, and various retail purchases.
It is also alleged that former Stone filed false tax returns for the 2015 through 2020 tax years, by failing to disclose and pay taxes on income received as a part-time waiter at Twin Oaks restaurant in Cranston.
It is further alleged that as treasurer of the local union, Petteruti embezzled funds for personal use, by withdrawing that money in cash from ATMs, as well as spending union funds to gamble at Foxwoods casino."
The defendants are scheduled for a pretrial conference on April 12, 2023, in Providence County Superior Court.
