Guilty Plea Expected from "Spiritual Healer" who Laid Himself Off From Own Company to Collect Unemployment

Running your own business is hard work. At least there’s the comfort in knowing you can’t lay yourself off.

That didn’t stop Paul Spremulli, 54, a self-described “spiritual healer” and business owner who apparently committed a self-layoff in an illegal scheme to collect unemployment benefits.

Spremulli, of Coventry, is the owner of PKS Associates and Temp Depot in Cranston and Angelnook, a publishing company that focuses on religious and spiritual books.

He eventually was caught and is now expected to plead guilty in U.S. District Court in Providence to a wire fraud charge for illegally applying and collecting more than $63,000 in temporary disability and unemployment insurance benefits from the state.

U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha said that Paul Spremulli, 54, is expected to enter his plea and pay full restitution for the fraud scheme that entailed filing false disability and unemployment claims through his staffing company.

Court records show that Spremulli, from Feb. 11 2008 through Sept. 2008 and again from Feb. 19 2013 through May 2013, claimed that he was unable to work his full time job at his company due to incapacitation. He collected $31,245.

From Nov. 19, 2009, to Dec. 10, 2010, Spremulli fraudulently claimed he had been laid off from PKS Associates and Temp Depot and collected $32,994 in unemployment insurance. Meanwhile he continued running his business full time.

Court records show that Spremulli, despite his claims of being injured on the job, unable to work, or laid off from the company for which he is the president and owner, “intending to continue working and did in fact remain employed by, and working for, PKS Associates and Temp Depot throughout the period of time he was collecting benefits.”

Wire fraud is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000, though he could avoid or see significantly less jail time, according to a plea agreement reached with prosecutors. Under the deal, the government will ask the sentencing judge to be lenient in exchange for the guilty plea. He has also agreed to make full restitution.

Spremulli is the author of the several books, including the novel “Teen Healer,” a story he says is loosely based on his life growing up in Providence and “eventually receiving the gift of healing,” according to his website.

His publishing company, Angelnook Publishing, was founded in 2005 and “related to publish spiritual literary and artistic works.”

A sampling of titles from the store include Spremulli’s own works along with titles from other writers, such as ”The Social Principals of Jesus,” ”The Revelation of Jesus Christ,” and “The Secret Science Behind Miracles.”

Photo via paulspremulli.com