Raymond Gallison admits to felonies, receives minimum 2 years in federal prison

EastBayRI.com ·

Former Rhode Island House Finance Committee Chairman Raymond Gallison will be spending a minimum of two years in federal prison, under a plea agreement announced this morning by the U.S. Attorney's Office.

U.S. Attorney Peter Neronha said the former state representative from Bristol is being charged with nine felonies, including aggravated identity theft, mail fraud, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and federal tax violations.

Mr. Neronha said the investigation into Gallison's activities revealed "a wide range of fraudulent and deceptive conduct."

He also said Gallison will be ordered to make full restitution of more than $750,000, much of which has already been recovered. Mr. Neronha said Gallison stole private money, public money, and used deception to "cover his tracks."

The majority of Gallison's offenses were committed in his role as executor to the estate of the late Ray Medley of Barrington. The U.S. attorney said Gallison used Medley's credit card to buy personal items, transferred money into his own personal account, sold items to a Fall River pawn shop, sold a car to a "family member" and kept the money, stole car and home insurance dividend checks, and stole dividends on stocks totaling more than $116,000.

"He went further," Attorney Neronha said, "in some instances scheming to steal the stocks outright, by having the stock certificates transferred to him, in his own name." At the time of the theft, the stocks were valued at more than $550,000, the U.S. attorney said.

Attorney Neronha said that although Gallison accepted a minimum two-year sentence for the identity theft charge, his office will be seeking a longer sentence from a federal judge on the other charges, to run consecutively to the two-year minimum.

Rep. Ray Gallison, RI General Assembly