Jury convicts Robert Urciuoli of corruption

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) -

A federal jury on Monday convicted a former hospital executive of buying the influence of a Rhode Island lawmaker, but acquitted another executive of participating in the corruption scheme.

The federal jury deliberated over five days before finding Robert Urciuoli, the former president and chief executive of Roger Williams Medical Center in Providence, guilty of bribing former state Sen. John Celona. Urciuoli was convicted of conspiracy and 35 counts of mail fraud.

But the jury acquitted former hospital vice president Frances Driscoll of aiding and abetting in a mail fraud scheme. This was the executives' second trial. A federal appeals court threw out their 2006 convictions earlier this year because of flawed instructions by the trial judge.

Prosecutors said the executives used Celona to advance the hospital's agenda at the Statehouse. But defense lawyers said Celona did legitimate community outreach work for the medical center and an affiliated assisted-living home.

"The verdict with regard to Mr. Urciuoli is completely against the evidence that was presented in this case," said Howard Cooper, a lawyer for Urciuoli.

He said he was confident the convictions would be overturned on appeal. Urciuoli will be free on bond pending sentencing on March 6. Conspiracy and roughly half the fraud counts carry a maximum five-year sentence, but due to 2002 changes in federal sentencing law, the other half carry 20-year maximums.

The split verdict came five months after a major defeat for federal prosecutors in a separate case related to their ongoing probe, which is dubbed "Operation Dollar Bill" and has targeted both politicians and corporations.

Celona and another ex-legislator, Gerard Martineau, have pleaded guilty to selling the influence of their office, and Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island agreed to pay $20 million and make reforms to avoid criminal charges.

But two former executives of the CVS pharmacy chain were acquitted in May of bribing Celona for legislative favors, with jurors deliberating just 90 minutes in that case. U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente has said his investigation was ongoing. He said Monday he was pleased with Urciuoli's conviction.

Prosecutors streamlined the second trial for Urciuoli and Driscoll, dumping Celona as their key witness and dispensing with certain evidence that a federal appeals court ruled should not have been available to the jury, "Obviously, this trial looked a lot different than the first time around, but the core story remained the same," Corrente said."

Celona, who is serving a federal prison sentence, began working for Roger Williams in early 1998 and earned roughly $260,000 through January 2004.

Theoretically hired to tout the assisted-living home's virtues among his senior constituents, prosecutors said the real purpose of his job was to serve as the hospital's secret lobbyist.

Celona testified extensively against Urciuoli and Driscoll in the first trial, saying the two had directed him to vote in the hospital's favor on various bills and that he followed their wishes to keep his job.

But prosecutors opted not to call Celona again after his testimony during the first trial and the CVS trial last spring was picked apart by defense lawyers who seized on inconsistencies and contradictions to call his credibility into question.

"The prosecutors in this case, having the experience that we've had with Sen. Celona over time, obviously had to make some adjustments, and I think they made those very professionally," Corrente said.

After the first trial, Urciuoli was sentenced to 3 years in prison while Driscoll was given 8 months. They were allowed to remain free on bail pending their appeal.

The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston overturned the verdicts in January, saying the judge allowed jurors to convict Urciuoli and Driscoll for conduct that was not illegal by letting them consider Celona's lobbying of town officials for more ambulance runs to the hospital.

That evidence was not presented in the retrial.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)