North Providence Deputy Chief Paul Marino and Maj. Paul Martellini comment yesterday on the conviction of former police Sgt. Michael Ciresi by a Superior Court jury.

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The Providence Journal / Andrew Dickerman

PROVIDENCE — Suspended North Providence police Sgt. Michael Ciresi was found guilty yesterday on 9 of 10 counts, including two burglaries, capping a probe that started in 2004 when a man caught in an armed home invasion of a drug dealer in Pawtucket told the police that Ciresi had given him the gun.

The 40-year-old Ciresi, a son of former North Providence Town Solicitor Robert Ciresi, closed his eyes but otherwise appeared unfazed as a jury foreman read out each of the verdicts and other jurors nodded their agreement. However, Ciresi’s father and his sister Mary, a past president of the Rhode Island Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, appeared stunned as the verdicts were read.

Ciresi could face a significant amount of jail time. Under Rhode Island law, even one count of burglary can carry a possible life sentence, though judges have the discretion to impose a lesser punishment.

Although he compiled numerous commendations during his 18 years in the Police Department, his record as of yesterday also included convictions on two counts of burglary, two counts of conspiracy to commit burglary, and use of a firearm to commit a crime of violence. He was also convicted of one misdemeanor offense of receiving a stolen generator valued at less than $500, attempting to steal money from a stolen ATM that he had seized in a raid, harboring a criminal by hiding a traffic summons inside his police locker, and obstructing a police officer.

The one count on which he was cleared was that of receiving a stolen gold and diamond bracelet valued at $2,500. During the Superior Court trial, the man who allegedly sold it to him acknowledged that he could not remember whether he sold it or not.

After the verdicts were in, Judge Robert D. Krause thanked the jurors for their three weeks of service, including three days of deliberations. He released Ciresi to home confinement, provided he posted $1 million bail with surety, which Ciresi did before the end of the day.

He did not set a date for sentencing, given the strong possibility that Ciresi’s defense lawyers would be moving for a new trial.

Defense lawyer John Lynch Jr. said he needed to talk to his client first about whether to seek a new trial, remarking that he was taken aback by the verdicts. “I was surprised. They are still ringing in my ears.”

Over the last three weeks, jurors heard testimony from 38 witnesses including a bevy of ex-convicts, drug informants and crime victims, along with many members of the North Providence and Pawtucket police departments and the state police.

One key witness was a former informant of Ciresi’s, Mark Pine, who said Ciresi would accept items from him that he knew to be stolen and that the policeman would sometimes keep watch for him while he was stealing tires and rims from an auto dealership.

According to Pine, the relationship evolved to the point where Ciresi enlisted him to set off a small explosion near the window of a house on Charles Street in North Providence as a pretext for Ciresi’s gaining access to the home of a reputed drug dealer. Pine said he was out of prison for only a week when he and Ciresi agreed on a plan to break in and steal drugs and money from the home of a drug dealer and his girlfriend in Pawtucket, assuming that if they were at home, they would not call the police.

But the couple was at home and did call 911. When the police arrived, Pine told them of Ciresi providing him with the gun, the mask and gloves. (Ciresi would later say the gun was stolen from his glove compartment.)

Assistant Attorney General Matthew Dawson told jurors last week that they didn’t have to believe Pine’s assertions at all since there was enough to convict Ciresi simply on slip-ups he made during his first videotaped interview with Pawtucket police.

Yesterday, Pawtucket Maj. John Whiting credited Dawson for a “superlative job” making the case to the jury.

North Providence Deputy Chief Paul Marino said the case was carried out jointly by North Providence, Pawtucket and state police.

“It went the way we thought it would go, based on everything we uncovered in this three-year investigation,” Marino said. “This is a somber moment for law enforcement, particularly for the members of the North Providence Police Department. But we have a lot of good men and women and we will go forward from here.”

One of the charges against Ciresi involved an ATM stolen from a Mobil gas station in Providence in 2004. One police witness said he saw Ciresi using a metal object in an apparent attempt to open the ATM in a basement while he had the thief in handcuffs outside.

Yesterday, North Providence Mayor Charles Lombardi said that as public safety director he will look at the “underlying evidence” to make a “meaningful assessment” as to who else, if anyone, may have been involved “in these shameful events” and restore the integrity of the North Providence Police Department.

Lombardi said yesterday was obviously a “sad” one for the Ciresi family. He said he won’t be taking any further action against the suspended policeman until speaking to Vincent Ragosta, the town’s labor lawyer. “I don’t want to beat up on anyone. We will handle this as professionally as possible and try to move forward.”

Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch said, “As offensive as the crimes of this defendant are, the public also should recognize that it was the diligence and dedication of good, honest police officers that led to this result.”

rdujardi@projo.com