RI jury convicts 1 ex-hospital exec of corruption

The 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.

Howard Cooper, a lawyer for Urciuoli, said his client would appeal.

"The verdict with regard to Mr. Urciuoli completely goes against the evidence in this case," Cooper said.

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 split verdict came five months after a major defeat for federal prosecutors in a separate case related to their ongoing probe into Statehouse corruption. The investigation, dubbed "Operation Dollar Bill," 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.

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.

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.