PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A Providence man arrested during an FBI Safe Streets Task Force investigation into the sale of firearms and drugs in Providence and Woonsocket has pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and firearm charges.
Joel Figueroa, 25, pleaded guilty on Monday to two counts of distribution of crack cocaine and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Figueroa will be sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Mary S. McElroy on November 18, 2021.
According to information presented to the court, on February 13, 2020, Figueroa arranged via a social media application to sell crack cocaine and a firearm to an individual the following day. On February 14, 2020, Figueroa sold a person just over five grams of crack cocaine for $265 and arranged to sell that person a firearm. Later that day, Figueroa obtained a .22 caliber long rifle pistol from an unidentified male and transferred it in exchange for $300 to the person to whom he had sold crack cocaine. A month later, Figueroa sold the same person more than seven grams of crack cocaine, again making the arrangements through a social media application.
According to court documents, at the time Figueroa transferred the firearm to another individual he was serving a five-year suspended state sentence for possession with the intent to deliver cocaine.
At sentencing in federal court in November, Figueroa faces statutory penalties of up to a total of 50 years in federal prison.
Joel Figueroa’s guilty plea is announced by Acting United States Attorney Richard B. Myrus.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stacey P. Veroni.
###