Woonsocket man pleads guilty to robbery, gun charges

Published Nov. 18, 2009 at 9:31 p.m.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A Woonsocket man pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal robbery and gun charges for his role in holding up a Providence man and stealing more than a pound of marijuana and $2,800 from him.

Robert Beauparlant, 26, also pleaded guilty to a separate felony count of being a felon in possession of a gun.

At Wednesday's plea hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard W. Rose told the court that on Feb. 13, Beauparlant and two other men arranged to meet someone to buy the marijuana. Upon arrival at the drug dealer's house in Providence Beauparlant, or one of the other men with him, brandished a silver pistol and they grabbed the marijuana from the dealer.

Rose said that they also took his keys, a cell phone, a jar of change and a leather bank bag with the $2,800 inside.

Beauparlant pleaded guilty to conspiracy, robbery and using a firearm to commit a crime of violence - trafficking in marijuana.

In the other case, Rose said that Beauparlant made several sales of crack cocaine to a federal undercover agent last spring and, on March 29, he sold the agent a small amount of crack cocaine and a .22-caliber rifle for $680. He pleaded guilty to the charge of being a felon in possession of the gun.

Beauparlant has prior felony convictions in Massachusetts for assault, breaking and entering and for having sex with a child. He faces up to 27 years in prison at his sentencing that is scheduled for March 16.

The authorities said that a federal indictment is pending against Beauparlant's codefendants, Julio Candelario, 29, of Woonsocket, and Robert Cuadrado, 21, of Providence, for their alleged roles in the robbery.

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