A Florida man who often called Coventry, Rhode Island home admitted in federal court today to illegally possessing a modified semi-automatic weapon that functioned as a fully automatic machine gun, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Sara Miron Bloom.
Joshua Pavao, 44, pleaded guilty before a U.S. District Court judge in Providence to one count of possession of a machine gun and one count of possession of an unregistered firearm on Wednesday, February 26, 2025.
The charges stem from a dramatic December 2023 incident in East Providence, where Pavao led police on a high-speed chase following reports of gunfire.
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The pursuit ended in chaos, with multiple car crashes and Pavao fleeing on foot before his swift capture. Authorities recovered three loaded firearms, numerous loaded pistol magazines, and a trove of ammunition—some scattered across the roadway, others stashed in a bag near a residence.
The unregistered firearm at the heart of Pavao’s guilty plea was a modified machine gun with a barrel measuring just 10 and 5/8 inches—well shy of the 16-inch legal minimum.
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A subsequent search by Coventry and East Providence police, alongside ATF agents, turned up even more firepower. Inside a duffle bag Pavao kept in a Coventry garage, law enforcement seized eight long guns, four equipped with auto sear devices that transformed them into fully automatic machine guns.
Pavao’s sentencing is slated for June 5, 2025, where a federal judge will weigh the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other factors to determine his punishment.
Each charge carries a potential penalty of up to 10 years in prison, though the final sentence remains at the court’s discretion.
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