Pawtucket Man Sentenced for Selling Firearm, Crack Cocaine to an Out-Of-State Undercover Law Enforcement Officer
PROVIDENCE – A Pawtucket man who sold a firearm and crack cocaine to an undercover Massachusetts law enforcement officer was sentenced Thursday to one year and a day in federal prison, to be followed by three years supervised release, the first six months to be served in a Pawtucket residential reentry center.
Gary Pagnozzi, 60, of Pawtucket, admitted to selling a .44 caliber revolver and 3.5 grams of crack cocaine to the undercover law enforcement officer on April 5, 2018, the same day he retrieved the firearm from the residence of an inmate incarcerated at the Rhode Island Adult Correctional Institutions (ACI). The inmate, 24-year-old Ricardo Dominquez, called Pagnozzi from inside the ACI and asked him to retrieve and sell the firearm. That same day, Pagnozzi arranged to sell the firearm to a person he knew to be a Massachusetts resident. Pagnozzi arranged to meet the person, an undercover law enforcement officer, in Massachusetts where he sold him the firearm for $500 and 3.5 grams of crack cocaine for $200.
Pagnozzi, who pleaded guilty on June 25, 2019, to transferring a firearm to an out-of-state resident and to distribution of cocaine base, was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell, Jr., to one year and one day in federal prison, to be followed by three years supervised release, the first six months to be served at the Neil J. Houston Jr. House, announced United States Attorney Aaron L. Weisman and Special Agent in Charge of the Boston Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Kelly D. Brady.
Dominquez, who was released from the ACI on April 11, 2018, contacted the out-of-state law enforcement officer and offered to sell him crack cocaine. Dominquez, arrested on May 22, 2019, for twice selling crack cocaine to the law enforcement officer, pleaded guilty in federal court on April 19, 2019, to two counts of distribution of cocaine base. He is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge William E. Smith on September 23, 2019.
The cases are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Milind M. Shah. The matters were investigated by ATF and the Rhode Island ATF Task Force.
United States Attorney Aaron L, Weisman thanks the Department of Corrections for their assistance in the investigation of Gary Pagnozzi.
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