Disgraced Former Coventry Fire District Chief Indicted for Pension Fraud

The disgraced former chief of the Coventry Fire District has been indicted for collecting more than $200,000 in benefits he was not entitled to over an eight year period.

Paul Labbadia, 49, of 184 Station St., Coventry, was indicted by the Providence County Grand Jury and was arraigned today before Superior Court Magistrate Patricia Lynch Harwood where he pleaded not guilty and was released on $25,000 personal recognizance.

Labbadia allegedly collected $155,000 in medical payments and $23,000 in cost of living adjustments from his pension from the city of North Providence “to which he was not entitled to receive,” said Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin.

Labbadia also collected $45,000 in pension benefits from the state that he wasn’t entitled to, according to court records.

Labbadia collected the benefits after providing false information on his application for retirement benefits, which he collected from 2007 to Oct. 7 of this year.

Labbadia was fired from his job as chief of the Coventry Fire District in February after he was caught on camera driving a fire department vehicle after drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana and playing golf while on the clock, among other allegations.

The WPRI-12 investigation revealed much more than bad behavior while on the job.

Labbadia reportedly never put in enough years of service to get his pension and claimed that he worked as an “on-call” firefighter in North Providence in the early 1980s.

Employment records showed that Labbadia did not work as early as he claimed and actually only earned 17 years worth of job credits, which is three years shy of the 20 years needed under state law.

In fact, a review of Labbadia’s North Providence records showed that he would have been under 16 for several of the years he claimed to have worked, which would have been impossible, according to North Providence Mayor Charles Lombardi.

Labbadia turned 16 in 1982.

Labbadia is now facing two counts of obtaining money under false pretenses over $1,500, a felony, and one count of filing a false document. He was arrested by the Rhode Island State Police Financial Crimes Unit at his house after a warrant was issued following the indictment.

He is due to appear in court on Nov. 16 for a pretrial conference.

Photo Courtesy: ABC6