Ex-Newport cop to spend six months in prison

PROVIDENCE — Retired Newport Police Detective Sgt. Christopher Hayes, formerly the president of the Newport police union for more than 10 years, was sentenced Friday to six months imprisonment, followed by six months of home confinement, for taking more than $71,000 in union funds.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge William E. Smith ordered Hayes, 49, to report Aug. 21 at noon to either the U.S. Marshals Service in Providence or directly to the federal prison where he will be assigned by the Federal Bureau of Prisons at a later date to serve his sentence.

Attorney Christopher Gontarz, representing Hayes, asked that his client be allowed to serve in the federal prison closest to Rhode Island, which would be at Fort Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts. The judge agreed to that request, assuming he can be accommodated there.

Hayes pleaded guilty on May 1 to a federal wire fraud charge, acknowledging he funneled $71,523 in union funds for his personal expenses during his term as president of the Newport police union. Hayes’ “scheme to defraud” lasted from August 2009 through December 2014, according to federal prosecutors. As a condition of his plea agreement, he waived his right to appeal his sentence.

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