SALON

Friday, Sep 14, 2012 8:45 PM UTC

RI police boss gets prison in stripper theft case

By

Topics: From the Wires,

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A police chief convicted of stealing $714 from a stripper’s pocketbook following a chase was sentenced Friday to serve six months in prison.

Former North Providence police Chief Col. John Whiting received a five-year sentence, with six months to serve in prison and 4 ½ years of probation. He was also ordered to under anger management counseling. The sentence will not be imposed while Whiting files an appeal.

Before delivering the sentence, Superior Court Judge Daniel A. Procaccini said Whiting’s actions hurt the victim, a patrolman he asked to take the money and the entire law enforcement profession. Procaccini said Whiting had not shown remorse for his actions.

“The town of North Providence deserves better than what it received from the chief of police,” Procaccini said. “He took an oath. He broke those solemn promises.”

Whiting didn’t address Procaccini before the sentence was announced and didn’t comment after Friday’s hearing. As the sentence was announced, Whiting’s wife and daughter sobbed. Whiting’s attorney, John Harwood, said he would appeal.

Whiting, 58, was convicted in July on charges including larceny over $500. The case began when Whiting came across the woman’s Ford Explorer as the remnants of Hurricane Irene hit the area on Aug. 28, 2011. Whiting testified that while he was trying to pass the SUV, someone inside threw an object at his vehicle. Whiting said he chased the vehicle until it struck a parked car. The occupants of the vehicle then fled, including the vehicle’s owner, Justina Cardoso, who worked at the time as a dancer at the Satin Doll strip club in Providence. She testified that she left behind her money and other belongings.

Whiting said he went through the SUV to determine who had been inside and found money in a zippered pouch and put it in his pocket for safekeeping. But prosecutors said he bypassed normal procedures for searches and did not initially turn the money over, passing up several opportunities to give it to the officer who responded to investigate, Pawtucket police Officer John Brown.

Brown testified that later in the day, Whiting confessed to stealing the money and told Brown to spend it in Las Vegas.

While Whiting did not address the court, his adult daughter Kasia Whiting did, telling Procaccini that her father is “the most honest and trustworthy man and police officer that I’ve ever met.”

Harwood had asked that Whiting serve no jail time for the offenses — which is what state sentencing guidelines would suggest for a person without a previous criminal record. He said the incident was an “aberration” in an otherwise long and successful police career.

“He has been devastated,” Harwood said. “He is remorseful. He has hurt his family. He’s ruined his reputation. He’s lost his job.”

But Procaccini agreed with prosecutors who said Whiting deserved to be punished because of his status as a top law enforcement officer. Procaccini also said Whiting had shown no remorse.

“I have to say, I believe he believes nothing happened,” Procaccini said.

Attorney General Peter Kilmartin, a former Pawtucket police officer, did not attend the hearing. He said in a statement that the sentence is “fair and appropriate” and that “no one is above the law; no one more so than an individual who has the tremendous responsibility of leading a police department.”

Whiting remains on unpaid suspension while the legal proceedings against him continue, though Harwood said his client is no longer working for the department.

More David Klepper.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: Chekhov's story mirrors Russia's own

Recommendations