Two North Providence police union officials accused of embezzling union funds

PROVIDENCE – Two North Providence police union officials are facing charges that they embezzled union funds.

A secret grand jury indictment unsealed Tuesday charged recently retired North Providence Police Lt. Dennis Stone with three counts of embezzlement related to Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 13 money and six counts of filing a false tax report that excluded work he did at Twin Oaks, both dating back to 2014, according to court records.

The indictment also charged Det. Christopher Petteruti with two counts of embezzlement, dating back to 2015, court records show.

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The amount of money the men are accused of embezzling was not immediately available from the Attorney General's Office. Stone is a past president of the police union and Petteruti served as treasurer.

North Providence Police Chief Alfredo Ruggiero Jr. said that Stone retired as of 4 p.m. Jan. 24 and the Petteruti had been suspended without pay, with his access to the complex and internal communications blocked.

"What we have here does not reflect proper policing and if they are found guilty of these allegation, it was wrong and it was criminal," Ruggiero said. "There are 64 men and women in the North Providence Police Department. They are not represented by two members who made bad decisions."

The investigation into alleged misappropriation of FOP funds had been under way by the state Department of Labor and Training and state prosecutors for the past seven years and dealt with the years in which Stone served as union president and Petteruti as treasurer, he said.

For North Providence Mayor Charles A. Lombardi, there was no love lost with the accused men Tuesday.

"This doesn't surprise me. I would have fired these individuals six years ago if I could have," Lombardi said. "They used the police brotherhood checking account as if it were their own and used it for their own wants, not needs."

He referred to the men as "BC" -- Before Charlie-- hirings.

"I am not responsible for these two people who should never have been police officers," Lombardi said. "Hopefully, this is the end of the contamination that I inherited in our police department."

He emphasized that the case would not impact taxpayers or North Providence Police Department operations.

Lt. Thomas Jones, FOP president since 2018, said the union was aware that an investigation was ongoing.

"When my administration took over, we were informed," Jones said, adding "Right now, we don't have a dollar amount."

He said he would be issuing a statement, but declined further comment about the case.

"The accused still have their due process," he said.

Stone and Petteruti could not be reached immediately. It was unclear who their lawyers are.

Petteruti was in charge of the Police Department's evidence room when more than 100 items were found to be missing, including a handgun, six green pills, crack cocaine, a ring, two necklaces and a laptop computer, according to a 2017 Journal report.

This is a developing story and will be updated

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Two North Providence union officials charged with stealing from FOP