Warned by police, city man still gets arrested for carrying gun
WOONSOCKET — Two days after being warned by the police about how he handles his lawfully-owned handgun, a Johnston man was arrested Friday for carrying a pistol without a permit.
Jared Roberti, 31, of 29 Bishop Hill Road, was taken into custody following a traffic stop at about 9 p.m. on Park Avenue in which his wife, Katherine Conlon,
26, of 212 Grove St., was also arrested for vehicle-related offenses. She was charged with third-offense driving on a suspended license and operating a vehicle with a partially-obstructed plate.
Police seized a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun and 38 rounds of ammunition from the Dodge Charger Conlon was driving. The vehicle, which was impounded, is registered to Roberti, police said.
Three days before the motor vehicle stop, a neighbor of Roberti's wife told police she had some sort of verbal confrontation with Roberti, during which he allegedly brandished a handgun in front of her daughter. Police made a couple of attempts to question Roberti about the incident and finally made contact with him last Wednesday as he was getting into the Charger, parked in front of his wife's house.
Roberti told police he doesn't live with his wife and that he usually leaves the weapon at his residence in Johnston. But he told police he brought it to the Grove Street residence because his wife was in possession of a kit to clean it.
Finding insufficient evidence to justify criminal charges, police said they warned Roberti and the complainant to stay away from each other but made no arrest.
Although police said they initiated the motor vehicle stop on Park Avenue Friday for the apparent license plate infraction, officers were aware of whose car it was and took the necessary precautions to be ready for an occupant in possession of handgun.
Roberti, police said, was in the passenger seat and readily admitted to having the gun with him. Police reports say the gun was in the center console – directly adjacent to two fully loaded ammunition clips; a third was in the weapon. The arrangement does not meet the security standards for transportation of a weapon, even a licensed once, in the absence of a permit to carry, according to police reports.
Roberti told the police he was coming back from a shooting range and forgot that the handgun was in the center console.
His version of events, however, was inconsistent with that of Conlon. She told police she and Roberti, as well as an unidentified passenger in the vehicle, were all coming back from Twin River Casino in Lincoln when they were pulled over.
“Due to the previous disturbances involving Roberti and the handgun being carried directly in the center console, in the vicinity of Roberti's control, he was placed under arrest for license for carrying (a) pistol and he was placed into handcuffs,” Officer Justin Mowry reported.
Roberti has scant prior history of involvement with law enforcement. The judiciary's web site says he was only arrested once before, in 2011, for driving on a suspended license, and that charge was dismissed.