Gallison Pleads Guilty

PROVIDENCE — Former Rhode Island House Finance Chairman Raymond E. Gallison, Jr., 64, of Bristol, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Providence. He was charged with federal mail fraud, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and tax charges, according to U.S. Atty. Peter Neronha and Rhode Island Atty. Gen. Peter Kilmartin.

In court, Gallison admitted to "orchestrating wide-ranging fraudulent and deceptive schemes to steal private money and hide his misuse of public money," according to the press release. He admitted to stealing money from a deceased person's estate. (He had access to the funds because he was the estate's executor.) He also admitted to stealing from a Special Needs Trust established to protect the long-term welfare of a disabled individual. (He had been appointed trustee.)

Gallison also admitted he provided false information on tax documents, "including vastly inflating the number of students assisted by a non-profit organization funded by public money while failing to disclose amounts paid by that organization to him." And he admitted he didn't pay taxes "on income derived from his criminal actions."

Gallison pleaded guilty to four (4) counts of mail fraud; one (1) count of wire fraud; one (1) count of aggravated identity theft; one (1) count of aiding the filing of a false tax document; and two (2) counts of filing a false tax return.

Here are the specifics.

"At the time of his guilty plea, Gallison admitted to the court that:

"As executor of an estate of an individual from Barrington, R.I., who passed away in February 2012, he devised and executed various schemes to steal or transfer to his own name and bank accounts, cash, checks, stocks and real property belonging to the deceased person and/or his estate, valued at a total of $677,454,10. Gallison will admit that he fraudulently used the name and social security number of the deceased person to execute a scheme to cause the liquidation of certain stocks belonging to the deceased person;

"He caused the filing of a false tax document on behalf of Alternative Education Programming (AEP), a non-profit organization which provided educational programs to students who may need assistance with course work, and/or minority and/or disadvantaged students who may need financial or other assistance to gain an education, and of which Gallison was listed as Assistant Director. The tax document listed that $77,957 in tuition and related fees and expenses were paid for 47 students from July 1, 2012, through June 30, 2013. In fact, on behalf of AEP, Gallison paid only $3,137.29 to assist 2 students during that year and paid approximately $64,575 to himself and another person in wages and consulting fees for no work undertaken on AEP’s behalf;

"As trustee for a disabled person’s Special Needs Trust, he defrauded the Trust by writing a check from the Trust account for $8,900, which he deposited into an AEP account. Gallison then wrote a check for $8,800 from the AEP account to pay an outstanding bill at the Community College of Rhode Island; and

"He failed to claim a total of $622,286.17 in income on joint IRS tax returns for tax years 2012 and 2013, and, as a result of his relevant conduct from 2012-2015, Gallison failed to pay a total of $226,332.31 in taxes.

Gallison is scheduled to be sentenced on June 16, 2017. Based on statutory penalties, Gallison will serve, at a minimum, two years in federal prison.

He has made restitution to his victims.

"During the course of the investigation law enforcement recovered more than $515,000 in assets stolen by the defendant from the estate for which he served as executor. Prior to the start of today’s change of plea hearing, the defendant provided to the court a check in the amount of $162,063.95, reflecting the balance of restitution due to the estate.

But he still owes the Internal Revenue Service $226,332.31.