By RUSS OLIVO

LINCOLN — Disgraced former town official Robert R. Picerno was arrested by the state police Wednesday on charges of orchestrating the 2001 beating of then-Councilman Dean L. Lees Jr. in the parking lot of a Providence carpet store.

Picerno, a key player in the bribery scandal involving former Town Administrator Jonathan Oster, was arrested at his North Providence home on charges of conspiracy and threatening a public official for his role in procuring others to assault and threaten Lees, said State Police Maj. Joseph R. Miech.
Picerno, 61, was later arraigned before Judge Michael Higgins in Sixth District Court, Providence, and released on $25,000 personal recognizance pending a pre-arraignment conference Aug. 27.
At the time of the beating, Lees, often a scathing critic of town government, told state police he was sure the assault was connected to his political activities.
Lees reported that he was leaving the old Ace Hardware plaza on Branch Avenue in Providence when two men came up to him from behind as he got in his car and punched him in the back of the head repeatedly. Lees said one of the men warned him “we’ll be back” if he kept doing what he was doing.
“It’s been seven years in the making,” Lees said in reaction to the arrest. “Unfortunately, when things go beyond the norm of what government should be, people have a hard time believing what can happen.”
Picerno, a former member of the Planning Board whose son once challenged Lees for his seat on the Town Council, was sentenced to eight years in prison, with three to serve, in a 2004 plea agreement on bribery and related conspiracy charges. Oster, Picerno’s alleged co-conspirator, faced similar charges and was found guilty at trial earlier this year. In a tragic unraveling of the case, however, Oster later committed suicide in his Smithfield Avenue law office, prompting the Superior Court to vacate his conviction.
Picerno is the third individual to face charges in connection with the Lees attack. Shortly after Lees reported the incident in January 2001, state police arrested Robert Rinn and Scott Coutu on charges that included threats to public officials, assault and abetting a felony. Rinn was sentenced to three years and Coutu 42 months, according to court records. Rinn and Coutu both had numerous prior convictions.
State police released few details about how they tied Picerno to the beating, but Wednesday afternoon they released a statement saying that sometime in 2008, the State Police Detective Bureau developed information revealing that “Picerno hired one of the individuals convicted in the 2001 investigation.”
Lees, who relinquished his council seat in 2007 to make an unsuccessful bid for town administrator, said the state police informed him of the arrest shortly after Picerno was taken into custody. He commended police for their efforts and said he and his family were relieved that everyone involved had finally been apprehended.
“If there’s anything I want newer elected officials to understand, it’s that elements of this nature are always involved in local government,” Lees said, calling government at the local level “the most corruptible” of all.