Attorney General Peter F. Neronha announced that Andrew McLean (age 26), of Woonsocket, was sentenced on July 31, 2019 to serve 40 years at the ACI for his role in a 2015 armed robbery of a pawn shop on Smith Street in Providence. Superior Court Justice Robert D. Krause sentenced McLean to a 60-year full sentence with 40 years to serve at the ACI. The remainder was suspended with probation for five charges the defendant pleaded guilty to earlier this year. The court also ordered that for 20 of those years to serve, McLean cannot receive parole.
McLean pleaded guilty on June 10, 2019 to one count of first degree robbery, one count of conspiracy, one count of discharging a firearm during the commission of a violent crime, one count of assault with a dangerous weapon, and one count of carrying a pistol without a license.
Had the case proceeded to trial, the State was prepared to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that on October 23, 2015, McLean and two accomplices committed an armed robbery of a pawn shop on Smith Street in Providence. During the course of the robbery, the shop owner resisted and McLean, armed with a 9mm pistol, shot the owner in the head. McLean and his accomplices proceeded to rob the shop while the victim lay on the ground bleeding. The victim ultimately survived his injuries.
Detectives Jason Simoneau, William Baldassare, and Jonathan Primiano of the Providence Police Department conducted the investigation into the case. Assistant Attorneys General Joseph McBurney and Jeffrey Morin prosecuted the case on behalf of the Office of the Attorney General.
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