Chocolateville

Former Central Falls Mayor Charles Moreau agreed to a plea agreement admitting guilt to federal charges that he accepted illegal gratuities from a friend and political supporter who received lucrative work from the city boarding up abandoned buildings. Earlier Mr. Moreau resigned as mayor, a post to which he was first elected to in 2003; he now faces a prison sentence. Between 2007 and 2009, the friend, Mr. Bouthillette, a businessman who specializes in post-disaster cleanup work, boarded up at least 167 Central Falls homes, reaping “unreasonable profits, amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars,” according to federal court papers. As a “reward,” Mr.  Bouthillette “on three occasions corruptly gave Mayor Moreau things of value,” according to the federal information, charging the two men with two counts of fraud. Mr. Bouthillette helped former Mayor Moreau buy a new furnace for his house in Central Falls, provided free renovations to his home in Lincoln, and, in April 2010, provided free flood remediation work at the Lincoln home after heavy spring flooding that year. The information describes how Moreau circumvented competitive-bidding rules by declaring that each vacant home was an “emergency.” Moreau directed city officials to find vacant buildings to be boarded up, and identified buildings himself. He reduced the time the city gave property owners to board up their own homes from seven days to 24 hours. Some homes were boarded up even though people were still living there. Others were re-boarded by Mr. Bouthillette at Moreau's direction, even though the owners had already had their own contractors board the building. Under the plea agreement, Moreau agrees to pay a fine of at least $6,400. For his part, Mr. Bouthillette agrees to contribute $160,000 to the government, which “shall be used to make grants for educational, public safety, social services or housing programs in Central Falls that redress the harm caused by the defendant's criminal conduct,” and he agrees to relinquish to the city any further monies he is owed for boarding up properties, which is estimated to be about $277,000. The young upstart clashed several times with the experienced former mayor during two marathon debates on Sunday afternoon at the Forand Manor and Wilfrid Manor on opposite sides of the city. 

Meanwhile, James Diossa, a city councilman,  won a big victory in Central Falls' nonpartisan mayoral primary on Tuesday and will move on to face former Police Chief James Moran in the general election next month. Mr. Diossa had  battled with ex-Mayor Thomas Lazieh over the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility which has not provided the city with a dime in almost four years. In the past, the jail used to pay the city as much as $525,000 for allowing it to operate in the city. Lazieh boasted that he was responsible for bringing the facility into the city and creating jobs. Diossa went right after the former mayor, blaming him for signing off on a deal that required the bondholders to get paid before the city.