East Providence Former Finance Director to Plead Guilty to Stealing Half a Million Dollars

EAST PROVIDENCE, RI—Charles F. Denno, 66, of East Providence, a former finance director for the Providence Plan, will plead guilty to fraud, the U.S. Attorney's Office said today.

Denno is accused of "devising and executing a scheme in which he fraudulently converted more than $500,000 of Providence Plan funds for his own use."

According to the press release, the Providence Plan is a non-profit educational entity which receives federal, state and private grant funds, including funds from the United States Department of Education and the Bloomberg Family Foundation. Annually, the federal grant funds awarded to the Providence Plan totaled in excess of four million dollars.

Denno allegedly took more than $500,000 and used some of the money to pay credit cards and make Automatic Teller Machine cash withdrawals at Twin Rivers Casino.

According to U.S. Atty. Peter Neronha, Denno was charged with wire fraud. He could face up to 20 years imprisonment; 3 years supervised; and a fine of up to $250,000.

“The Providence Plan receives a tremendous amount of federal, state and private funds each year for a laudable purpose: to provide educational and other programs to children and adults who would otherwise not have access to them," Neronha said. "Every dollar the defendant stole – and he stole an outlandish amount – could have served someone who really needed it. It is precisely this type of conduct that gives rise to unwarranted public cynicism regarding such worthy programs."

The scheme worked like this:

"Between 2012 through July 2016, Denno used his authority to cause the U.S. Department of Education and the Bloomberg Family foundation to deposit funds into Providence Plan bank accounts and fraudulently converted those funds to his own personal use."

"In addition, according to court documents, Denno fraudulently prepared and issued Providence Plan checks made payable to CMG Enterprises, an entity he owned. The payments issued to CMG and deposited into a CMG bank account were not authorized and contained a forgery of the authorized check signing official at the Providence Plan. Denno subsequently made multiple withdrawals from the CMG bank account in various forms, including credit card payments, check payments and ATM cash withdrawals at Twin River Casino.

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