Crime & Safety

Old Tags Lead to Warrant Arrest

A Providence man was arrested on an active warrant after a Johnston police officer found that the registration plates on his car had expired.

Expired registration stickers led a Johnston Police officer to pull over a car on Aug. 12 that turned out to be driven by a man sought on a court warrant for failure to pay child support.

Anthony T. Wills, 57, of Potters Avenue in Providence, was driving on Rte. 6 east when Sgt. Troy Maddocks saw the silver Volkswagen Passat driven by Wills and noticed that it had outdated registration stickers.

Maddocks reported that a check of the plates found that they belonged to a 2003 gold Toyota, and he stopped the car.

In checking Wills's state-issued ID card, Maddocks learned of the warrant issued by Sixth District Court.

Wills's driver's license had also been suspended over failure to pay child support, Maddocks reported.

A later check of the car's VIN number found that the vehicle identification number belonged to a third vehicle owned by a 76-year-old Newport woman.

Officers filed a charge of driving with a suspended license against Wills and brought him to the Adult Correctional Institutions to await further court hearings.

The latest charge was dismissed at an Aug. 21 arraignment.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.