Recordings played in police chief's trial

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP/WPRI) — A judge has heard recordings of two telephone calls between a Pawtucket police officer and the North Providence police chief accused of stealing money from the pocketbook of a stripper.

The recordings of calls between Col. John Whiting and Officer John Brown were played Tuesday during Whiting's trial.

• Related : North Providence police chief arrested

In one recording, Whiting denies stealing the money, telling Brown he gave him the cash because he was the Pawtucket officer on scene.

Whiting, 58, is accused of taking money from a pocketbook he found after chasing an SUV last August during Tropical Storm Irene.

Brown testified Whiting confessed to the theft, gave him the money and told him to spend it in Las Vegas and not to say anything about it.

"He said, 'I found that pocketbook in the rear of 24 Pasiley Street and it was loaded with cash.' He said, 'He stole the money that was in it and he said he never stole anything and he said he wanted me to take it, don't say nothing, go to Las Vegas with it, have fun, don't tell anybody.'"

"He told me he stole the money that was in that pocketbook and his arm was shaking when he said it, he was white," Officer John Brown said in his court testimony Tuesday.

Testimony in the trial got underway Monday. Judge Daniel Procaccini is hearing the case after Whiting declined a jury trial.

Whiting was the head of the North Providence Police Department for three years following 29 years as an officer in Pawtucket. North Providence Mayor Charles Lombardi suspended Whiting without pay after his arrest.

Whiting, of North Attleboro, Mass., has pleaded not guilty.

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