Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A Massachusetts man already facing state charges for allegedly trying to buy guns from an undercover Rhode Island state trooper was charged Tuesday with a federal charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Arjusz C. Roszkowski, 26, of North Reading, Mass., is being held at the Adult Correctional Institutions on $250,000 surety bail -- or $25,000 cash -- following a district court arraignment on two counts of possession of a firearm while committing a crime of violence/fugitive from justice, two counts of carrying a pistol without a license, using a firearm to commit a violent crime, felony assault and alteration of identification marks of a firearm, all felonies.

Roszkowski was also charged with the misdemeanor charges of driving on a suspended license and resisting arrest.

The state felony charges will be screened by the state Attorney General's Office.

The federal charge will be reviewed by a federal grand jury.

State and federal lawyers will prosecute the case together, according to a joint statement by the U.S. and Attorney General's offices.

The authorities say Roszkowski went to Lincoln Woods State Park on Nov. 6 to buy a shotgun and a 9 mm Glock from an undercover state trooper for $1,000. The two struggled in the park's parking lot, the police said, and Roszkowski shot himself in the neck.

This case is exceptional in that although the defendant allegedly committed a host of crimes in Rhode Island -- and jeopardized the life of a State Police trooper in doing so," Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch said in a news release, "he only came to Rhode Island, we believe, because he wanted to buy guns so that he could rob a bank in another state."

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