Operation Deception Officer to Keep Pension

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – A former Providence police sergeant convicted in a drug investigation is being allowed to keep his city pension.

The Retirement Board on Wednesday ruled that Stephen Gonsalves is eligible for his pension.

Gonsalves pleaded no contest in December to two counts of frequenting a narcotics nuisance, a misdemeanor. A judge gave him a two-year suspended prison sentence with probation. No contest is the equivalent of guilty under Rhode Island law.

The board's lawyer said the crimes to which he pleaded were not among the four categories of crime spelled out in the ordinance so the city cannot revoke his pension.

Mayor Angel Taveras has since signed an ordinance to expand the offenses that a revocation of pension can be based on.
     
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