AG: Money dispute between Phil Anez, friend is a civil matter

WOONSOCKET — Phil Anez, a former owner of the Pawtucket Red Sox, has been cleared of any wrongdoing stemming from an incident in which police had accused him of failing to repay money a friend had loaned to him.

 After reviewing the evidence, state prosecutors have dropped the charge of writing a fraudulent check over $1,000 which the Woonsocket police had lodged against Anez on Jan. 14.
Anez, 69, of Uxbridge, Mass., owned the Pawtucket Red Sox in the mid-1970s and is remembered for contemplating moving the club to New Jersey.  Anez sold the club to Marvin Adelson in 1976, and Adelson later sold it to Ben Mondor, the current owner. More recently, Anez was host of a talk radio show on Woonsocket-based WNRI, a program during which he engaged listeners with witty banter on politics, current events and sports.
The lender in the money-borrowing incident was a prominent real estate broker and lifelong friend of Anez, whom he had allowed to borrow $30,000, according to police. The frustrated lender eventually sought help from law enforcement after what he described as repeated efforts to collect the money.
Michael Healey, a spokesman for Attorney General Patrick J. Lynch, said that after reviewing the evidence, state prosecutors decided that Anez had not committed any crime.
“This debt was based on some unknown agreement between Mr. Anez and whomever else was involved dating back to 2004,” said Healey. “We determined it’s a civil matter. It’s a disagreement between — unfortunately — estranged friends.”