Former Central Falls Mayor Charles Moreau was released from federal prison Friday, and his conviction for federal program fraud — the illegal acquisition of federal dollars allocated to the state — was vacated, the Associated Press reported.
Moreau’s release comes one year into his two-year sentence for corruption and bribery charges for accepting gifts from a personal friend in exchange for circumventing the city’s contract bidding process, The Herald previously reported.
Moreau was mayor of Central Falls from 2003 to 2012. He pleaded guilty to the charges in federal court in September 2012 for establishing a deal with contractor Michael Bouthilette. As part of the arrangement, Bouthilette closed 167 buildings in Central Falls and charged excessive rates for his work, The Herald previously reported.
Bouthilette performed free renovations and other services on Moreau’s home in Lincoln in exchange for the city’s preferential treatment of his company, Certified Disaster Restoration, to board up the buildings.
U.S. Attorney Terrence Donnelly said at the court hearing last week that Moreau intentionally made the deal lucrative for Bouthilette as a friend and supporter, the Providence Journal reported.
Moreau’s fraud conviction was vacated based on a separate case in which the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston held it was not a crime for politicians to accept gratuities, which the court defined as “a reward for a future or past act,” the New York Times reported. Prosecutors in Moreau’s case agreed to allow a void on the fraud conviction as long as his other convictions still stood, the Times reported.
In addition to the time served in federal prison, the court fined Moreau $25,000, sentenced him to three years of probation and ordered 300 hours of community service to give back to Central Falls, the Journal reported.
Bouthilette also pleaded guilty to federal program fraud but did not serve prison time. He was sentenced to three years of probation and 2,000 hours of community service and paid back nearly $400,000 to Central Falls, The Herald previously reported.
After going into receivership, during which the city’s governance was guided by a state official, in 2011 and becoming the first city in Rhode Island to declare federal bankruptcy, Central Falls emerged from bankruptcy in October 2012. Central Falls has a median household income of less than $30,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, making it one of the poorest cities in Rhode Island.
Mayor James Diossa, who took over the office in a special election after Moreau resigned, was elected to his first full term this fall.
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