MIDDLETOWN, RI — A former Middletown police detective commander was found guilty of accessing and altering police records in order to help his girlfriend obtain a Section 8 voucher on Wednesday. The Attorney General's Office said Richard Gamache, 52, deleted an arrest record and classified his girlfriend as a police informant to help her receive housing in Newport.

A Newport Superior District Court jury found Gamache guilty of 12 counts of intentional access, alteration, damage or destruction of a computer, one count of giving false documents to a government official and two misdemeanor counts of filing a false document. The DA's Office said the jury deliberated for one day after the six-day trial before delivering the verdict. "Police officers, like all public officials, swear an oath to serve the public's interest, not their own," said Attorney General Peter F. Neronha. "The defendant here violated that oath when he used his official capacity — his public power — to serve his private interests, more specifically, to obtain a public benefit for his girlfriend. He has now been held accountable for the crimes hecommitted in abusing that power, and deservedly so. I want to thank the Office's Public Integrity Unit and the Middletown Police Department for their strong work on this investigation and trial."

Gamache was found guilty of altering a record in the system to help his girlfriend obtain Section 8 housing and deleting an arrest record. The altered record classified the woman as a confidential informant involved in an ongoing investigation. Court documents said Gamache then submitted unauthorized letters using Middletown Department letterhead to the Newport Housing Authority in which he claimed the woman was in grave danger if not given a housing voucher.

The deletion of her arrest records helped ensure the woman would pass any background checks that would otherwise disqualify her for receiving the voucher due to the previous arrest. She was given the voucher.