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PROVIDENCE — A Rhode Island judge found North Providence Police Chief Col. John Whiting guilty Tuesday of stealing $714 from a stripper after a car chase in Pawtucket last summer.
The five-day, non-jury trial began on June 18 with the prosecution calling 10 witnesses, including Pawtucket Police Chief Paul King, Pawtucket police Officer John Brown and state police, who investigated the case.
Whiting, a North Attleboro resident, was also found guilty of guilty of solicitation to receive stolen goods, a felony.
The verdict on both charges was announced by Superior Court Judge Daniel A. Procaccini just minutes after the prosecution and defense finished closing arguments.
Whiting, 58, who was suspended pending the court case, has denied he stole the money and testified he turned it over to Brown as evidence after an SUV he was chasing crashed during Tropical Storm Irene.
The occupants fled on foot after the accident. Whiting was reportedly pursuing the vehicle after someone inside threw something at his SUV.
Brown testified Whiting confessed to stealing the money. He also said Whiting gave him the money with instructions to spend it in Las Vegas and to not say anything about it.
Whiting testified he told Brown to take the money as seized evidence and was being sarcastic when he told him to “go to Vegas.”
In April, he turned down an offer from the prosecution to plead no contest and receive a five-year suspended sentence.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Kilmartin said, in a statement following the verdict, that it was disheartening to see an otherwise exemplary career marred by a criminal act, but that prosecutors would not turn a blind eye because of Whiting’s position in law enforcement.
“It is our responsibility as prosecutors, and the responsibility of police officers, to apply the law evenly, without fear or favor, to all those who break the law,” he said. “It is then, and only then, that we can protect the confidence the public has instilled in our criminal justice system.”
Col. Steven G. O’Donnell, superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police, said in a statement it was tough to see another officer convicted, but was necessary in this instance.
“It is never a good day when a police officer is convicted of violating the public trust,” he said. “However, it is necessary to keep our judicial system above reproach.”
Whiting is scheduled to be be sentenced Sept. 7.
