Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin announced that on Friday, July 14, 2017, Roosevelt White (age 53), aka Erick Jones, of Providence, pleaded guilty to one count of second degree sexual assault and one count of extortion. Under the terms of the plea, which was reached with approval of the victim, White was sentenced to 15 years to serve on the count of sexual assault, followed by 15 years suspended with probation on the count of extortion. In addition, he was ordered to have no contact with the victim, undergo sex offender counseling, and must comply with the State's sex offender registration and community notification statute upon his release.
Had the case proceeded to trial, the State was prepared to prove that on June 8, 2015, White sexually assaulted a female victim in a ruse he set up to make her think her boyfriend was kidnapped and being held hostage for $10,000 ransom.
White, who knew both the victim and her boyfriend, offered to loan the couple $3,500, and convinced them to drive with him, in the victim's vehicle, to where the money was located. At one point during the evening, White dropped off the boyfriend outside a pizza place in Providence, telling the couple only he and the victim could go to pick up the money. A short time later, White received a phone call and told the victim her boyfriend had been kidnapped and that the kidnappers demanded $10,000.
White then told the victim he would loan her the ransom money in exchange for sexual favors. Frightened her boyfriend would be killed and under the belief White had a firearm, she agreed. White drove the vehicle to a lot in Pawtucket, where he forced her to have sex. He later dropped her off back at her residence in Providence and drove off in her vehicle. When the victim's boyfriend returned home, safely and unhurt, they realized White orchestrated the fake kidnapping in order to sexually assault the victim.
The victim and her boyfriend reported the incident to the Providence Police, who in turn contacted the Pawtucket Police since the sexual assault occurred in that City. The victim and her boyfriend independently identified White from a photo array.
The victim also accompanied Pawtucket Police to the location where the sexual assault took place. Police located a white sweatshirt that the victim had reported White tossed from the vehicle after she was sexually assaulted. The victim was attended to at Women & Infants Hospital where a rape kit was taken by the medical staff.
White was arrested a short time later by Pawtucket Police.
Pawtucket Police Detective Charles Devine led the investigation and Special Assistant Attorney General Kimberly Ahern prosecuted the case on behalf of the Office of Attorney General.