Home Economy Government Report: Complaints of financial misconduct at Providence NAACP referred to FBI

Report: Complaints of financial misconduct at Providence NAACP referred to FBI

By

PBN Staff

-

06/04/2025

images (1) — COMPLAINTS OF financial misconduct at Providence’s NAACP branch have been referred to federal investigators, WPRI-TV CBS 12 reported Wednesday.

PROVIDENCE – Complaints of financial misconduct at the city’s NAACP branch have been referred to federal investigators, WPRI-TV CBS 12 reported Wednesday. On Tuesday, national NAACP leaders said they have suspended the Providence branch’s leadership, who were not identified, and filed a complaint with city police that Providence Deputy Police Chief Tim O’Hara described as

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PROVIDENCE – Complaints of financial misconduct at the city’s NAACP branch have been referred to federal investigators, WPRI-TV CBS 12 reported Wednesday. On Tuesday, national NAACP leaders said they have suspended the Providence branch’s leadership, who were not identified, and filed a complaint with city police that Providence Deputy Police Chief Tim O’Hara described as a “financial matter.” Providence police referred the complaint to the FBI after it was determined to be “multijurisdictional,” O’Hara said, adding detectives have not reviewed any documents. The NAACP National board of directors previously suspended then-branch President Gerald Catala and placed the branch under administratorship in March. In a statement Tuesday to WPRI, Dominik Whitehead, a senior national NAACP official, said the Providence branch “has not complied with NAACP’s bylaws, procedures and legal obligations,” and that the board of directors had “made the difficult decision” to remove all branch officers in Providence as of June 2. “In addition, NAACP’s Office of the General Counsel has filed a police report with the Providence Police Department for further investigation into the former branch leadership’s actions,” Whitehead said. “We are committed to working with membership and local stakeholders to continue to move forward during these critical times. To that end, the branch will remain under the administration of the state conference, with the support of the national office.” On Wednesday, Catala told WPRI he was unaware of the developments with the Providence branch. In 2024, a federal court judge found Catala, 46, guilty of two counts of failing to file campaign finance reports according to state law. Judge Anthony Capraro ruled Catala had “knowingly and willfully” failed to file two finance reports from his unsuccessful campaign for the Ward 9 seat during the 2022 Providence City Council election. More specifically, during the trial prosecutors proved Catala did not file a required campaign finance report for candidates due 28 days before the primary, Aug. 16, 2022, as well as another required campaign finance report due seven days before the primary or Sept. 6, 2022. In 2022, the R.I. Board of Elections referred the case to the attorney general's office and state police for investigation after repeated efforts to get Catala to file were unsuccessful. The case was investigated and prosecuted by special assistant Alison Bittl with the attorney general’s office and Corporal James Brown with the state police. Richard Thornton, director of campaign finance of the R.I. Board of Elections audited Catala’s campaign account. Catala has also been investigated for failing to comply with campaign finance laws relating to his unsuccessful bids for Providence City Council in 2014 and 2018. Those earlier violations were outside of the statute of limitations for prosecution. Material from PBN staff was used in this report.