Ex-Rhode Island man gets 18 months for wire fraud

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - A former Rhode Island man who defrauded the estates of two deceased sisters from Ireland of more than $1.2 million has been sentenced to 18 months in a federal prison.

Ronald Hunt, who formerly lived in Bristol and who now lives in Collinsville, Illinois, was also sentenced Friday to two years of probation, community service, and ordered to complete paying restitution.

He pleaded guilty in July to wire fraud.

Prosecutors say that in 2013, while working for Columbia Management Investment Services in Providence, he used his position to research deceased clients who had unredeemed accounts and no listed beneficiaries. Hunt identified two such accounts belonging to the sisters from Galway, Ireland.

Prosecutors say he then created an alias and fictitious accounts to which he transferred the sisters' money.