Arrested Former Councilman Suspended

The Rhode Island Supreme Court has granted an emergency petition and  suspended a recently-arrested attorney.

The court appointed Disciplinary Counsel as Special Master to take possession of his client files in order to protect the interests of those clients

On Monday, May 15, 2023, the media reported that Respondent was arrested by the Cranston Police Department and charged with possession of crack cocaine. That same day, a criminal complaint regarding the possession offense was filed in 3rd District Court. The possession offense is classified as a misdemeanor.

Evidence

Bodycam footage of Respondent’s arrest was posted to a news media website, wherein Respondent can be heard stating that he bought one hundred dollars ($100.00) worth of crack cocaine the day prior, that he had relapsed, and that he had “just gotten back into this.”

He failed to appear in court that day; then things got worse

On May 17, 2023, an order entered in District Court evicting Respondent from his law office located at 63 Sockanosset Cross Road, Ste 2A, Office 1, Cranston, RI 02920.

Disciplinary Counsel and her staff contacted Respondent twice by email after his arrest and attempted to contact him by phone. To date, Respondent has not responded.

Ongoing issues

According to Court records accessible to Disciplinary Counsel, Respondent has eighteen (18) family court appearances scheduled between May 23, 2023 and August 9, 2023.

10 WJAR reported on the arrest

The Rhode Island Supreme Court has suspended the law license of former Cranston councilman Matthew Reilly, who was arrested on drug charges earlier this week.

Reilly resigned from the Cranston City Council Thursday after police released body camera footage of his arrest.

And

He stepped down earlier this week as chairman of the local GOP.

(Mike Frisch)