June 7 – Police Arrest Florida Man Driving a “Mobile Ammunition Store”

A high-speed chase by police officers in Rhode Island ended with the arrest of Joshua Pavao, a 43-year-old Florida man whose Nissan Armada SUV was loaded with more than a thousand rounds of ammunition plus dozens of magazines for pistols and assault rifles, including a few special clips with extended capacity. According to a news report published by WPRI Channel 12, a Fox News affiliate in East Providence, Pavao was driving with about five times the combat load issued to infantry soldiers in the United States Army.

The incident occurred in December 2023 when Pavao drove to the Riverside district of East Providence to carry out a drive-by shooting. The suspect fired multiple shots into a car parked in a residential area, and one of the rounds impacted a side window. Witnesses reported seeing Pavao firing from inside the Nissan SUV with Florida license plates before speeding off. A detective on his way to the precinct spotted the black SUV described by the radio dispatcher, and he called two squad cars after Pavao became aware he was being chased.

After running red lights and causing four crashes, including two patrol cars that collided with a few cars parked along a residential street, Pavao began ditching guns and ammunition all over the road. He did not exit the vehicle until it was damaged to the point of being undrivable, and then he escaped on foot until officers took him down as he tried to run into a restaurant. East Providence Mayor Bob DaSilva expressed concern when the Florida man was granted surety bail for $100,000; plus, he was allowed to return to the Sunshine State and wait for his criminal trial to begin.

See Also:

• Florida Man Chronicle – June 6
• Florida Man Report – June 5
• Florida Man Headlines – June 4

June 7 – Florida Man Charged With Kidnapping Prison Inmates After Quitting His Job

In recent years, more American workers are staging and filming their dramatic resignations from thankless jobs. They do this to vent their frustrations, but they also explore the potential of their video clips going viral on TikTok, X (Twitter), or Instagram. For a Florida man driving a van transporting inmates of a correctional institution in North Carolina in 2023, the #QuitTok and #ByeBoss hashtags were not enough to express how much he wanted to leave his job before Christmas.

Joshua James Pinquet worked for a personal transportation company often contracted by law enforcement agencies in various states to shuttle inmates between correctional facilities; this often happens when inmates serve consecutive sentences in more than one state, or when a judge issues a writ to appear as a court witness. The 21-year-old driver from Orlando was behind the wheel of a van traveling from North Carolina back home to Florida; next to him was a co-worker, and four inmates were locked in the back.

According to a report published by Law & Crime, Pinquet chose to quit in a style befitting a Florida man. After telling the co-worker riding with him that he had enough, Pinquet skipped the next stop in his route plan and arranged to be picked up elsewhere in North Carolina. Up to this point, Pinquet refused to communicate with his boss in Florida; he told his partner: “You can let him know if you want,” and continued driving while his former co-worker frantically sent text messages to the home office.

Police officers caught up with Pinquet as he drove south on I-40. He was charged with four counts of kidnapping, one for each inmate in the van; plus, he was also booked on larceny charges for taking the company vehicle after he resigned. In the end, Pinquet did make it back to Florida in time for Christmas after posting a $750,000 bond on December 20.