Home
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Raymond T. "Chip'' Hoyas Jr., the former top Senate aide who has been accused in a $70,000 check-cashing scheme at the State House, is seeking a $49,000 a year disability pension from the state.
State Retirement Director Frank Karpinski said Wednesday he is barred from disclosing the nature of the alleged disability for which Hoyas, 50, is seeking the early payment of a state pension; he would not otherwise be eligible to begin collecting his pension for more than a decade.
Hoyas filed the application December 30, 2008, less than a week before he resigned from his $104,389-a-year job as deputy chief of staff to former Senate President Joseph A. Montalbano.
Karpinski said Hoyas' application is still pending a year later, with the disability subcommittee of the state retirement board still awaiting the additional medical information it requested from Hoyas last spring, and an update on the criminal investigation that resulted in Hoyas' indictment earlier this week on 54 felony charges.
Without elaborating, Karpinski said the subcommittee was prompted to inquire about the status of the investigation because it was referenced in one of the medical reports in Hoyas' application package for the pension, and a conviction would be grounds for denying him a pension even if the board was satisfied he met the other criteria.
At this point, the application remains tabled with the board awaiting enough additional information to determine if Hoyas is "really disabled or just trying to get a check out of us.''
The 54-count indictment accuses Hoyas of falsifying the hours worked by 52 former State House pages, forging their signatures and then co-signing payroll checks made out to them for hours they did not actually work so he could deposit them into his personal bank account.
Among the pages are the sons and daughters, and nieces and nephews of many high-ranking lawmakers, past and present, including Montalbano's nephew and the son and daughter of Sen. John J. McBurney, D-Pawtucket.
The investigation had been sparked by a complaint filed with the state police on January 9, 2009 by Marisa White, then executive director of the Joint Commission of Legislative Services.
With "the full cooperation of Hoyas's bank, the Pawtucket Credit Union, the State Police Major Crimes Unit found that from Feb. 11, 2005, through Dec. 12, 2008, Hoyas allegedly cashed more than 170 checks for various amounts totaling approximately $70,000,'' according to a statement issued by the attorney general office.
Hoyas' bid for a disability pension is complicated by the circumstances in which he left, after 24 years in state employ. The paperwork carries a code - "T-06'' - that indicates he resigned. It does not indicate that he left as a result of a disability, which would have been reflected by a "T 72'' code.''
Karpinski said no further action is scheduled on Hoyas' pension request at this time. Hoyas is also a former Pawtucket City Councilman.
