« R.I. lawmakers propose medical-error tracking system | Today | Tonight: Bands perform in Station Fire charity events »

February 25, 2008

Westerly school board member gets 6 months' probation

SOUTH KINGSTOWN -- Westerly School Committee member Dominic DiFazio avoided a jury trial today when the state dropped two felony fraud charges and he entered a plea to a third charge that resulted in 6 months’ probation.

Westerly police charged DiFazio with two counts of obtaining money under false pretenses when he took two deposit checks in June totaling $2,761.72 to replace an elderly couple’s windows and hadn’t started the work by September.

To a charge of unlawful appropriation of more than $1,000, DiFazio, the owner of Dom DiFazio Contracting, entered an Alford plea, in which he did not admit guilt but conceded that a jury might find him guilty if the case went to trial.

Superior Court Judge Stephen P. Nugent said the plea, which comes from the case North Carolina vs. Alford, is treated like a nolo contendere plea. “I guess the distinction is in the so-called Alford plea, you admit that the facts that the prosecutor puts on the record to prove the charge would be enough if believed by the jury to result in a guilty verdict.”

In a nolo plea, a defendant does not contest the facts.

In both cases the defendant gives up his right to appeal the decision.

“It’s an empty victory,” DiFazio said today. “I wanted a jury to prove me not guilty.”

He said he accepted the agreement partly because his mother is ill and because “I didn’t want to cause the state any more expense than I have already.”

The couple who ordered the windows are in Florida, and “the state would have had to fly them up here,” DiFazio said.

Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch's spokesman, Michael Healey, who called the plea a nolo Alford, said “What he admitted was the fact that he took $2761.72 from the victims to install windows and he further admitted that he gave them the runaround.”

Judge Nugent told DiFazio to report to the probation office and make full restitution. He said the money is already in the account of DiFazio lawyer Michael P. Lynch, who must get it to the Central Registry in a bank check or money order by Friday. The registry distributes restitution to victims.

Healey said that special assistant attorney general Mark Trovato, who prosecuted the case, agreed to drop the fraud charges because “the victims simply wanted their money back. They’re in Florida,” Healey said. “They’re not in the best of health.”

-- Journal staff writer Donita Naylor

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 5:12 PM | Permalink

Comments

Post a comment

Please be civil. Vicious comments, personal attacks and profanity won't be published. Name and email are required; email address will not publish.

Name:

Email Address:

URL:
Remember Me? YesNo

Comments: (you may use HTML tags for style)