Martineau

Gerard M. Martineau left Rhode Island for prison yesterday, driving with a family member to New Jersey to begin serving a three-year term for State House corruption.

The former House majority leader from Woonsocket, who admitted to selling his public office for paper- and plastic-bag contracts, reported to the federal prison in Fort Dix, N.J., whose cells have housed mobsters such as Eddie Lato, crooked pols such as Buddy Cianci and dishonest businessmen such as nursing-home magnate Antonio L. Giordano.

Martineau, 49, is the second Rhode Island legislator to go to prison in Operation Dollar Bill, the long-running federal corruption probe of influence peddling at the State House. Former North Providence Sen. John A. Celona began serving a 2½-year term last year, and is currently incarcerated in Loretto, Pa.

Martineau left with a heavy heart, having buried his elderly mother on Wednesday — the same day that he learned of his prison assignment, said his lawyer, James E. O’Neil.

His mother, Rachel C. Martineau, died on Sunday at the age of 85. Martineau, one of eight children, could have filed a motion for a delayed reporting date, said O’Neil, but “he didn’t want to use his mother as an excuse.”

“He just wanted to get on with the punishment he feels he deserves,” said O’Neil. “It’s the first step in rebuilding his life.”

Martineau pleaded guilty last fall to a $900,000 corruption scheme in which he sold bags to CVS and Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island — including payment for 8 million Blue Cross bags that didn’t exist. In return, Martineau acted favorably on legislation for the companies.

A federal prosecutor said at Martineau’s sentencing last month that the former lawmaker is cooperating with the federal authorities, and has agreed to testify as a prosecution witness in the coming trials of two former CVS executives, John Kramer and Carlos Ortiz. The pair is charged with putting Celona on the CVS payroll as a $1,000-a-month consultant to do the company’s legislative bidding.

In a lengthy memo prior to his sentencing, Martineau’s lawyers painted a portrait of a Woonsocket boy from a close, hard-working family who helped support his family by getting up at 5:30 a.m. to deliver newspapers, graduated from Mount St. Charles Academy, then worked his way through St. Anselm’s College in New Hampshire despite his father’s death following cancer surgery.

He became a manufacturer’s representative, peddling packaging products for clients including CVS, married and had two sons, one a student at Emory University in Atlanta and the other an eighth-grader at the Moses Brown School in Providence. He was elected to the state legislature in 1986, at the age of 27, campaigning against elected officials “who practice self-service rather than public service.” In 1998, his colleagues chose him as House majority leader.

His lawyers argued that Martineau’s business relationship with CVS, the national drugstore chain headquartered in his Woonsocket district, pre-dated his entry into the General Assembly and his rise to political power. But prosecutors argued, and Martineau eventually admitted, that he used his political influence to benefit CVS and Blue Cross — most notably by helping to thwart pharmacy-choice legislation that both companies opposed.

In 1999, Martineau approached Blue Cross’ State House lobbyist about selling bags for a pharmacy promotion. Blue Cross agreed. But when it turned out that the pharmacies did not need as many bags as Blue Cross agreed to buy, Martineau “continued to invoice Blue Cross at the higher volume level,” his lawyers wrote in their court memo. “Mr. Martineau is extremely ashamed of this conduct and admits it was dishonest.”

mstanton@projo.com