California convicted felon forfeits 14 guns after jumping off of bridge on Interstate 195 to evade arrest

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A California man who leaped into the Providence River in a bid to evade arrest pled guilty today in federal court in Providence to a charge of being a felon in possession of firearms; fourteen guns will be forfeited and destroyed as a result, announced United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha.

The firearms were seized from James Darosa, 29, in February 2022, during an East Providence Police Department Special Investigations Unit (SIU) firearms investigation.

According to information presented to the court, members of the SIU established surveillance of a residence from which Darosa was seen exiting, placing a suitcase in the trunk of a vehicle, and entering the vehicle as a passenger. A short time later, East Providence Police initiated a traffic stop of the vehicle for a tinted window violation.

As officers approached the vehicle, Darosa got out of the rear passenger side and jumped off a bridge into the Providence River. With the assistance of Providence Police and Rhode Island State Police, Darosa was located along the shoreline and arrested. The suitcase that Darosa had placed in the trunk of the vehicle was found to contain 14 guns- thirteen handguns and one .22 caliber rifle.

According to court records, at the time of his arrest in February 2020, Darosa was serving a term of federal supervised release, having recently completed a term of incarceration of sixty months imposed in May 2016 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California on a conviction for distribution of methamphetamine.

Darosa, previously charged by way of indictment, today pleaded guilty in federal court to being a felon in possession of firearms. No plea agreement has been filed in this matter. Upon his conviction, Darosa must forfeit the fourteen firearms seized by East Providence Police.

Darosa is scheduled to be sentenced on April 5, 2023. The defendant’s sentence will be determined by a federal district judge after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Zechariah Chafee.