Woonsocket Man Gets Five Years Probation for Unemployment Fraud

A Woonsocket man has been sentenced to five years probation and $13,485 in restitution after pleading no contest to collecting unemployment benefits while employed. 

Yesterday, Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin's office announced that Todd J. Salvas, 35, with a last known address of 209 Logee St., pled no contest Wednesday before Providence County Superior Court Justice William E. Carnes, Jr. to one count of obtaining money under false pretenses for collecting in excess of $13,000 in unemployment insurance benefits while employed.

Carnes, Jr. sentenced Salvas to five years probation and ordered him to pay full restitution — $13,485 — to the state.  

Kilmartin's office was prepared to prove that between July 18, 2009 and April 30, 2011, Salvas failed to report his weekly earnings to the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training (RI DLT) while he was employed with Thielsch Engineering Inc. in Cranston, RI while collecting unemployment insurance benefits.  

Salvas was required to report any earnings when he called the voice response unit to certify for his weekly unemployment insurance payment. 

“This is the latest of numerous unemployment insurance fraud cases that our office has prosecuted in the last several months, returning tens of thousands of dollars to the state,” Kilmartin wrote,  “Unemployment insurance is a critical resource for people out of work, and we must ensure that it is preserved for the people who do deserve it.”

Rhode Island State Police Detective Robert Creamer of the Financial Crimes Unit led the investigation. Special Assistant Attorney General Genevieve Allaire Johnson prosecuted the case on behalf of Kilmartin's office and the State of Rhode Island.