Charles Moreau, the former mayor of once-bankrupt Central Falls, R.I., was sentenced yesterday to two years in prison for funneling work on foreclosed homes to a political contributor, Reuters reported yesterday. Moreau pleaded guilty to federal charges of corruption in November, weeks after he resigned from office and admitted accepting kickbacks from his friend Michael Bouthillette in exchange for contracts to board up vacant homes in the financially troubled city. The former mayor said he circumvented a state requirement that the work be awarded through a competitive bidding process by declaring each home an emergency that needed to be boarded up immediately, prosecutors said in a statement. Between September 2007 and July 2009, Bouthillette boarded up at least 167 homes, earning "unreasonable profits" of hundreds of thousands of dollars, they said.
