State Rep. Almeida arrested for allegedly misappropriating campaign contributions

STATE REP. JOSEPH S. ALMEIDA WAS arrested Tuesday by State Police on a felony charge relating to unlawful appropriation of campaign contributions. / COURTESY STATE OF RHODE ISLAND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
STATE REP. JOSEPH S. ALMEIDA WAS arrested Tuesday by State Police on a felony charge relating to unlawful appropriation of campaign contributions. / COURTESY STATE OF RHODE ISLAND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

(Updated 3:54 p.m.) PROVIDENCE – State Rep. Joseph S. Almeida, 57, of Providence was arrested by State Police Tuesday on a felony charge relating to unlawful appropriation of campaign contributions, the state agency announced.
Almeida is accused of misappropriating $6,122.03 in campaign contributions for his personal use, according to State Police. He was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon at the Sixth Division District Court in Providence on the unlawful appropriation over $1,500 charge, according to a police statement.
Almeida is the deputy majority whip in the Rhode Island House of Representatives and a former Providence Police officer, according to his online biography. He represents the residents of District 12 in the South Side and Washington Park areas of Providence. Initially, he served from 1999 to 2010; he was elected again in 2012, according to the biography.
He could not be reached for comment this afternoon by telephone.
State Police say the arrest followed an investigation by its Financial Crimes Unit, which began with a complaint filed by the R.I. Department of Attorney General. The Attorney General’s office had received the result of an audit from the R.I. Board of Elections.
The police investigation revealed that Almeida made cash withdrawals and negotiated checks drawn on his campaign account that were made payable to cash or himself, the agency said in a press release. The cash expenditures were not supported by documentation. Almeida was contacted twice by the Board of Elections to rectify the situation, state police reported, but he did not respond or provide satisfactory documentation to support the expenditures.
The matter was then referred to the Department of Attorney General Civil Division, which conducted a review. That review concluded that Almeida provided some documentation to support a small portion of the expenditures and cash withdrawals used to pay campaign workers, but he was unable to provide receipts or verification for the remaining amounts, state police said.
The Attorney General’s Office then contacted State Police, who executed a search warrant on bank account activity relating to Almeida’s campaign accounts.
House Speaker Rep. Nicholas Mattiello released the following: “I am very disappointed to learn of the arrest of Representative Almeida. I have not spoken with him yet. However, I received a letter from Representative Almeida today indicating that he has resigned his position as the Deputy Majority Whip. Under the circumstances, I find this to be appropriate and I accept his resignation from his position on the Democratic Leadership Team.”
In his letter Tuesday, Almeida said he was resigning his leadership position due to “prior legal issues” and for the good of his Democratic colleagues.
“I do not want to taint or harm all the hard fought work of this Leadership Team and wish you all the best.”

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