PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — A known Providence gang member was sentenced to six years behind bars after he was caught with an illegal gun, according to Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha.
Josse Mosque Rodriguez, 20, pleaded no contest Wednesday to possession of a pistol without a license.
Neronha said Rodriguez was arrested after officers attempted to pull him over last October.
Rodriguez crashed his vehicle into a parked car while attempting to escape the officers, according to prosecutors.
Neronha said Rodriguez took off running after the crash, but was apprehended after he fell and dropped a semi-automatic handgun.
Rodriguez was previously known to investigators as a member of the Trinitarios gang, according to Neronha.
“Much of the senseless gun violence in Rhode Island stems from a common set of circumstances – young men with the ability to acquire guns, often illegal, with relative ease, who are all too willing to use them to settle petty disputes,” Neronha said. “Having achieved one critical part of that equation, [Rodriguez] was apprehended before he could put it to use, and thankfully so.”
Rodriguez was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with six to serve, as well as a four-year suspended sentence and 10 years of probation.
