Judge: Accused con man is 'menace'

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - A local man on the run for two years and wanted in three states for allegedly scamming several victims was ordered held without bail following a hearing in Superior Court Wednesday.

Kevin Millette, 45, of North Smithfield, appeared before Magistrate Patricia Harwood in handcuffs and wearing a jacket with the Harley Davidson logo. Police said Millette often used the iconic motorcycles in his alleged scams.

A public defender entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf to a 2009 charge of obtaining money under false pretenses.

Magistrate Harwood asked Millette where he has been for the past two years, he responded “Florida.”

Millette was arrested on Jan. 12 at hotel in New Jersey, a clerk there telling Target 12 Millette – who went by the name Howard Ethan – had been living there for a month.

“I wondered when you were going to surface again,” Harwood said. “As far as I’m concerned you’re a menace to society. You leave a wake of victims wherever you go.”

The Rhode Island State Police have been tracking Millette’s movements since a Target 12 Investigation in November revealed he was accused of swindling victims up and down the East Coast in elaborate car and motorcycle schemes.

“The only reason I can see that you are here today is that you were brought in in handcuffs,” Harwood said.

Magistrate Harwood granted Special Assistant Attorney General Robert Johnson’s request that Millette be held without bail. He will be back in court on Feb. 3 for a violation hearing.

A spokesperson for the Department of Corrections said Millette is being housed at the intake service center at the Adult Correctional Facility.

The 2009 charges accuse Millette of bilking former NHL player Jeffrey Jillson of more than $80,000 with hollow promises to deliver motorcycle parts and a Mercedes. Court records show Millette fled following his arraignment in that case.

A Target 12 review of records shows he was accused of similar scams in Warwick, New Hampshire, Florida and served a year in federal prison after being convicted of a motorcycle scam in Virginia.

In that case, federal prosecutors said Millette duped a group of blue-collar investors of more than $600,000. Investigators said Millette claimed he could get Harley Davidson motorcycles at cut-rate prices and sell them with promises to share the profits. Prosecutors said the plan was pure fiction and the victims never recouped a dime.

Besides the criminal charges, Millette is named in a civil suit filed in the Jillson case.

Jillson’s lawyer William Devereaux has asked the Rhode Island courts to attach two homes owned by Kevin Millette to the lawsuit. He contends the mortgages paid on those homes were obtained – at least in part – from the nearly $84,000 Jillson gave to Millette.

Tim White ( twhite@wpri.com ) is the Target 12 investigative reporter for WPRI 12 and Fox Providence. Follow him on Twitter: @white_tim