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Providence man sentenced to 7 ½ years at the ACI on firearms charges

Attorney General Peter F. Neronha announced that Mark Persaud (age 29), Providence, pleaded nolo contendere on September 11, 2019, in Providence County Superior Court to two felony gun counts and was sentenced to seven and a half years at the Adult Correctional Institutions.

Superior Court Magistrate Richard D. Raspallo sentenced Persaud to a 15-year sentence with seven and a half years to serve at the ACI and the remainder suspended with probation after he pleaded nolo contendere to one count of possession of a firearm after having previously been convicted of a crime of violence and one count of carrying a pistol without a license. The charges stemmed from two separate gun cases from 2018 and 2019.

Had these cases proceeded to trial, the State was prepared to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that on April 24, 2018, Persaud possessed a .380 caliber Cobra handgun. Persaud was prohibited from possessing a firearm because he had previously been convicted of a crime of violence – possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance in the State of Rhode Island.

The State would have also proved that on March 19, 2019, Persaud carried a Taurus 9-millimeter pistol on his person without having a valid license to do so.

Providence Police Detectives Francisco Colon and Zachary Silbert and Task Force Investigators Robert Foley and Brian Murphy handled the investigations into the cases and Special Assistant Attorney General Edward G. Mullaney prosecuted the cases on behalf of the Office of the Attorney General.