By Scott Denham –

Joel Figueroa, 25, of Providence appeared Monday before U.S. District Court Judge Mary S. McElroy and pleaded guilty to two counts of distribution of crack cocaine and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

During an FBI Safe Streets Task Force investigation into the sale of firearms and drugs in Providence and Woonsocket, on February 13, 2020, Figueroa arranged via a social media application to sell crack cocaine and a firearm to an individual the following day. On February 14, 2020, Figueroa sold a person just over five grams of crack cocaine for $265 and arranged to sell that person a firearm.  Later that day, Figueroa obtained a .22 caliber long rifle pistol from an unidentified male and transferred it in exchange for $300 to the person to whom he had sold crack cocaine.

A month later, again through social media, Figueroa sold the same person more than seven grams of crack cocaine.

At the time Figueroa sold the firearm and crack cocaine, he was serving a five-year suspended state sentence for possession with the intent to deliver cocaine.

Figueroa is scheduled to be sentenced November 18, 2021.