PORTSMOUTH — A local man who was formerly a Newport Police union official was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Providence Thursday, Dec. 20, for fraudulently converting more than $31,000 in union funds for his own personal use.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge William E. Smith sentenced Adam Conheeny, 46, of Portsmouth, to three months in jail to be followed by two years of supervised release, according to a press release issued by the U.S. Attorney's Office District of Rhode Island.

The former Newport police officer admitted in May 2018 that between August 2009 and December 2014, he used a debit card issued by the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), Newport Lodge No. 8, to write checks from a union account payable to himself, and withdrew cash from an FOP bank account for his own personal use.

In pleading guilty to wire fraud, Mr. Conheeny admitted to fraudulently converting approximately $31,413 in FOP funds for his own use.

Mr. Conheeny's sentence was announced by Michael Mikulka, special agent in charge of the New York region of the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, and Superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police Ann C. Assumpico.

The case was was investigated by the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Labor Office of Labor Management Standards, and the Rhode Island State Police Financial Crimes Unit. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John P. McAdams.

In a related case, Christopher Hayes, 51, of Middletown, a former Newport Police Department sergeant and a former president of the FOP, Newport Lodge No. 8, pled guilty on May 1, 2017, to wire fraud. 

He was sentenced on July 21, 2017, to six months imprisonment followed by six months of home confinement. At the time of his guilty plea, he admitted converting about $71,523 in FOP funds for his personal use.