Woonsocket Man Sentenced To 13 ½ Years In Prison In Armed Drug-Rip And Assault

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Tyronne Seams, 29, of Woonsocket, was sentenced on Friday to 161 months in federal prison for his role in a September 2013 armed robbery and drug-rip at a Woonsocket residence, during which time he and an accomplice opened fire at the occupants of the residence, announced United States Attorney Peter F. Neronha and Woonsocket Police Chief Thomas S. Carey.

The pair made off with a bag of cocaine and a firearm they stole from one of the occupants.

At sentencing, U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith also ordered Seams to serve 3 years supervised release upon completion of his prison term.  Seams pleaded guilty on March 24, 2015, as charged in a three-count indictment, to one count each of conspiracy, Hobbs Act robbery and discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.

At the time of his guilty plea, Seams admitted to the court that on September 12, 2013, he and David Bunnell, 22, of Franklin, Mass., conspired to rob and steal drugs from a Woonsocket residence. The next day, armed with a handgun and a double-barrel shotgun, he and Bunnell broke into the intended apartment.

Once inside the apartment, Seams admitted that he and Bunnell fired their weapons at or near the occupants of the apartment. Seams admitted that after subduing the occupants, he grabbed a gun from one of the occupants, assaulted one person and demanded to know where drugs could be found. Seams admitted that he located and took a bag containing cocaine and then fled with the drugs and the gun taken away from one of the residents.

Bunnell, who has been detained along with Seams since their arrest by Woonsocket Police on October 19, 2013, pleaded guilty on October 20, 2014, to one count each of conspiracy, Hobbs Act robbery and discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. He is awaiting sentencing.

The cases are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Milind M. Shah.

Woonsocket Police Department officers and detectives were assisted in the investigation of this matter by agents and officers from ATF, the DEA Drug Task Force, Rhode Island State Police, North Smithfield Police and the Franklin and Blackstone, Mass., Police Departments.

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