MARINO

NORTH PROVIDENCE –– After 28 years on the town’s police force, Deputy Chief Paul A. Marino, 47, has retired and, starting Monday, will begin a new career as a criminal investigator for the state attorney general.

The life-long North Providence resident said Thursday that he jumped at the opportunity to join the office’s Bureau of Criminal Investigations, when he learned that his boss would be former North Providence Police Chief William Devine, who led the department for seven years until the end of 2001.

“It’s like old times,” said Marino. “I had a great relationship with him.”

Marino said that even as a boy he wanted to go into law enforcement, though in those days his visits to the police station were more for the purpose of bouncing tennis balls off the station’s back wall with other neighborhood youths.

Since joining the department in 1981, he has worked in every division and held every rank from patrolman to deputy chief, the post he has held for four years. His favorite role, he recalled, was as commander of the detective division.

“I’ve always enjoyed that kind of work, putting the pieces together,” he said.

In 1987, Marino received a call from a man whose home had been burglarized and his car stolen. The man said someone had called him to say that for the right amount of money he could get his car back.

“The victim hung up on him. I said, ‘Next time, don’t hang up. Tell him you will meet with him.’”

The man did call again and this time the victim — actually, Marino — arranged a meeting in a local restaurant. After Marino handed the man $100 for information about the car and the man accepted it, officers swooped in and arrested him. The ensuing interrogation of the suspect led to the clearing of 40 breaks around the state, Marino said.

As a major and then as deputy chief, Marino was also involved in the investigation of Michael Ciresi, a town police sergeant who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in May 2008 for his role in burglaries in Pawtucket and North Providence and an assortment of other crimes in 2004. Marino was also involved in the investigation of Julie A. Robat, who was recently convicted of second-degree murder in the death of her newborn daughter.

But Marino said he is especially proud of his decision in 2003 to reopen the investigation into the murder of Robert McHugh, whose body was found in woods off Swan Street and Atlantic Boulevard on July 11, 1990. Though Keith J. Burke had been a suspect and was indicted at the time of McHugh’s death, the charge against him was dismissed mainly because a key witness, Burke’s ex-wife, had remarried Burke and, invoking marital privilege, refused to testify.

In reopening the case, Marino, along with Capt. Thomas Richardson and Detective Charles Fish, were able to use new DNA analysis to show that the blood found on McHugh’s jeans was Burke’s. Burke was found guilty in the fall of 2008 and was given a 40-year sentence with 28 to serve.

“It was very gratifying when the victim’s family sent me a gracious thank-you note and to know that you’ve been able to bring them some solace after all these years,” Marino said.

Michael Healey, spokesman for Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch, said, “We’ve always been impressed by the thoroughness, professionalism and attention to detail that Paul Marino has shown over the years. Paul has been a great talent and asset to the North Providence Police Department for the first part of his career, and the attorney general looks forward to having Paul join our BCI unit.”

rdujardi@projo.com