PROVIDENCE, RI (WPRI) – A Warwick man is facing charges after he allegedly stole a backhoe belonging to the RI Department of Transportation (RIDOT) earlier this year.
Peter Dambruoso, 59, has been charged with possession of a stolen vehicle and driving without a valid license, RI Attorney General Peter Neronha announced Thursday.
On January 4, a Providence Department of Public Works (DPW) employee reported seeing Dambruoso operating a 1998 John Deere backhoe around 11:30 p.m. behind a DPW building on Ernest Street.
When asked why he was using the backhoe so late at night, Dambruoso claimed he was a state employee, according to Neronha.
Dambruoso then drove off, but DPW followed him and called Providence police.
Officers stopped and detained Dambruoso before taking him into the custody of the RI State Police.
Neronha said Dambruoso told police he took the backhoe from a RIDOT facility in Johnston, drove it to the State House and parked it there for a couple of days before moving it at the DPW facility where he was confronted.
Dambruoso is scheduled to appear in court on August 10.
