Gallison expected to plead guilty Thursday

The former Bristol state representative faces at least two years in prison for nine felony counts

EastBayRI.com ·

Former State Rep. Ray Gallison is due back in court Thursday, and is expected to plead guilty to nine federal felonies.

The disgraced former legislator was arraigned Jan. 27 on the charges — aggravated identity theft, mail fraud, wire fraud (four counts) and federal tax violations (three counts) for under-reporting his income and assisting with the filing of a false tax document. At the time, Magistrate Judge Patricia Sullivan recorded a not-guilty plea, as is standard practice. It was widely expected Mr. Gallison would change his plea to guilty on all nine charges Thursday. He is due in federal court in Providence before Chief Judge William Smith at 3 p.m.

It is unknown whether Judge Smith will sentence Mr. Gallison Thursday. He faces a minimum of two years in federal prison on the aggravated identity theft charge. U.S. Attorney Peter Neronha and RI Attorney General Peter Kilmartin have both said they will encourage Judge Smith to tack more years onto the sentence.

In the meantime, Mr. Gallison remains free on $50,000 bond. He surrendered his passport and is prohibited from traveling outside Rhode Island or Massachusetts as a condition of his bail.

Mr. Gallison allegedly stole money from the estate of Ray Medley, a Barrington man who died in 2012 and had named Mr. Gallison executor of his will. Much of the money was supposed to be disbursed among a handful of non-profit organizations. Instead, much of it went into Mr. Gallison’s own account, according to the charges against him.

The U.S. attorney also said Mr. 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 also allegedly filed false tax returns that failed to account for his ill-gotten gains, and assisted an associate in doing the same.

In addition to a prison term, Mr. Gallison will be ordered to make full restitution of about $670,000, much of which was recovered when he delivered about $500,000 worth of stocks and bonds he was holding to Warren attorney Tucker Wright, who now represents Mr. Medley's estate. Another $100,000 of restitution will be due at the time of Mr. Gallison's sentencing, which has not yet been scheduled. Payment arrangements will be made for the remaining $60,000.

State Rep. Ray Gallison, RI General Assembly