CA Man Who Jumped Off East Providence Bridge To Escape Police Pleads Guilty To Gun Charges

EAST PROVIDENCE, RI — A California man who leaped from the Washington Bridge to escape East Providence police pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to gun charges.

Joseph Darosa, 28, of Modesto, California, was caught with a suitcase containing 14 guns, four of which were stolen out of Texas, and one with an obliterated serial number. Darosa pleaded guilty to being a convicted felon in possession of firearms.

On Feb. 16, 2022, a special investigations unit from East Providence police was doing surveillance on an East Providence home. Police Chief Christopher Francesconi said the surveillance pertained to a gun trafficking investigation.

Francesconi said officers saw Darosa leave the home with a suitcase and put the suitcase in the trunk of a Lyft driver's car. Officers also saw four men get into a second vehicle.

Investigators began following the cars. When getting onto Interstate 195 westbound, police tried to pull the cars over. In what Francesconi described as a "diversionary tactic" the second vehicle slowed down before speeding away, he said.

Francesconi said the Lyft driver stopped and had no knowledge of what was going on. This when Darosa got out of the car, ignored officers' commands and jumped off the bridge into the Providence River, prosecutors said.

After a 50-minute search, a Providence police boat found Darosa in a marshy area along the East Providence shoreline.

Court records showed Darosa was on federal supervised release at the time of his arrest after serving five years in prison for distributing methamphetamine.

Darosa is scheduled to be sentenced on April 5, 2023.