News Release
U.S. Department of Justice
United States Attorney
District of Rhode Island
October 15, 2007
Central Falls man admits to firearms offense
Oluwabusayo Ogundare, 21, most recently of Central Falls, pleaded guilty today to being a felon in possession of a firearm and possessing crack cocaine. Providence Police seized a handgun and several packages of crack cocaine from Ogundare at a gas station on Elmwood Avenue in May.
United States Attorney Robert Clark Corrente announced the guilty plea, which Ogundare entered before U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith in U.S. District Court, Providence.
At the plea hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha said the government could prove that, on May 19, at about 2:45 AM, Providence Police officers went to a gas station on Elmwood Avenue in response to a 911 call about a man with a gun. Officers saw Ogundare, who answered the description given in the 911 call, getting into a car, and ordered him out of the car. They seized a .22 caliber pistol from a holster in his waistband, and then seized from him seven bags of crack cocaine.
Ogundare is detained pending sentencing, which Judge Smith scheduled for January 18. The total maximum penalty for the two offenses is 12 years in federal prison and a $500,000 fine. Providence Police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Neronha is prosecuting it as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a Department of Justice initiative against gun crimes. Under Project Safe Neighborhoods, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, working with Providence Police, ATF, the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office, and other agencies, aggressively prosecutes federal firearms offenses in an effort to incarcerate those responsible for gun violence and deter others from committing gun crimes. Since 2001, federal firearms prosecutions in Rhode Island have more than doubled and gun offenders have been sentenced to a total of more than 800 years in federal prison.
Contact: 401-709-5032 Thomas.connell@usdoj.gov