Former state Rep. Ray Gallison agreed to plead guilty to nine criminal charges Monday including fraud, tax fraud, and identity theft, according to an announcement from U.S. Attorney Peter Neronha and Attorney General Peter Kilmartin.

“At bottom, he lied and he stole, in a variety of ways and from a variety of people,” Neronha said.

“Ray Gallison was greedy – pure and simple,” Kilmartin said. “He stole from his clients, people who considered him a trusted attorney and a trusted friend. That greed caught up with him.”

According to a press release from the US Attorney’s Office, “Gallison will admit to wide-ranging fraudulent and deceptive conduct to steal private money and hide his misuse of public money, and covering his tracks while doing so. Gallison will admit to the theft of funds from the estate of a deceased individual to which he was appointed executor; theft of funds from a Special Needs Trust established to protect the long-term welfare of a disabled individual to which he was appointed trustee; providing false information on tax documents, including vastly inflating the number of students assisted by a non-profit organization funded by public money while failing to disclose amounts paid by that organization to him; and failure to pay taxes on income derived from his criminal actions.”

Gillison will be charged with four counts of mail fraud; one count of wire fraud; one count of aggravated identity theft; one count of aiding the filing of a false tax document; and two counts of filing a false tax return. According to a Plea Agreement filed in this matter, Gallison will serve, at a minimum, two years in federal prison.

“Rhode Islanders deserve to have faith in their government and trust that their elected leaders will never use their public position to enrich themselves,” said Governor Gina Raimondo. “Today’s disappointing news puts that faith at risk and requires all of us in public service to reaffirm our commitment to the public trust. No one should enter public service in pursuit of personal gain.”

“I commend U.S. Attorney Neronha and Attorney General Kilmartin for their diligent work in identifying, investigating and rooting out illegal behavior,” said Speaker Nicholas Mattiello.  “Elected officials must be held to the highest standard.  When they cross the line, they should be investigated and prosecuted.”

As executor of an estate of an individual from Barrington, R.I., who passed away in February 2012, Gallison devised and executed various schemes to steal or transfer to his own name and bank accounts, cash, checks, stocks and real property belonging to the deceased person and/or his estate, valued at a total of $677,957.06. Gallison will admit that he fraudulently used the name and social security number of the deceased person to execute a scheme to cause the liquidation of certain stocks belonging to the deceased person.

He caused the filing of a false tax document on behalf of Alternative Education Programming (AEP), a non-profit organization which provided educational programs to students who may need assistance with course work, and/or minority and/or disadvantaged students who may need financial or other assistance to gain an education, and of which Gallison was listed as Assistant Director. The tax document listed that $77,957 in tuition and related fees and expenses were paid for 47 students from July 1, 2012, through June 30, 2013. In fact, on behalf of AEP, Gallison paid only $3,137.29 to assist 2 students during that year and paid approximately $64,575 to himself and another person in wages and consulting fees for no work undertaken on AEP’s behalf;

As trustee for a disabled person’s Special Needs Trust, he defrauded the Trust by writing a check from the Trust account for $8,900, which he deposited into an AEP account. Gallison then wrote a check for $8,800 from the AEP account to pay an outstanding bill at the Community College of Rhode Island;

He failed to claim a total of $622,286.17 in income on joint IRS tax returns for tax years 2012 and 2013, and, as a result of his relevant conduct from 2012-2015, Gallison failed to pay a total of $226,332.31 in taxes.

Gallison was chairman of the powerful House finance committee. He resigned in May amid state and federal investigations.

Earlier this month, two other Democratic former House members were criminally charged in state court for unrelated conduct.