Man Held On $500,000 Bond For Having To Much Ammunition
Keni Garcia told police he intended to use the 30,000 bullets they found in his car and home for target practice.
That is hard to believe, the prosecutor at Garcia’s arraignment said, because if he were to fire a gun for eight hours a day, it would take weeks for him to use all of it.
Garcia, who allegedly bought thousands of rounds of ammunition and had 10,000 bullets in his car when he was stopped by police Thursday, was ordered held on $500,000 cash bail yesterday.
Attorney Socrates de la Cruz of Lawrence, who represented Garcia, 32, of 12 Freeman St., at his arraignment in Haverhill District Court, said he will appeal the high bail in Superior Court.
Garcia is charged with three counts of possession of a high-capacity firearm, illegal possession of ammunition and illegal storage of a firearm. His case was continued until June 12.
Assistant District Attorney Christopher Holland asked Judge Patricia Dowling to impose $750,000 cash bail.
“He has no reason to stay here,” Holland said.
The judge ordered Garcia to surrender his passport, and said that if he makes bail he is not to leave Massachusetts.
Garcia is a native of the Dominican Republic who was expected to become a U.S. citizen yesterday, but then he was arrested, authorities said.
Police arrested Garcia after he had left Interstate 495 at Exit 49 Thursday. They said they found 10,000 rounds of ammunition in his car. His two young daughters also were in the car, police said.
Holland said at Garcia’s arraignment that a “joint effort” by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and state police found that Garcia had previously bought 20,000 rounds of ammunition in New Hampshire.
Garcia told police he only intended to use the bullets for target practice at a rifle range, Holland said, disputing Garcia’s explanation. His common law wife, Elizabeth Reynoso, consented to a search and police found another 20,000 rounds, Holland said. They also found one .38-caliber and two 9 mm handguns, and $25,000 in cash, Holland said.
The prosecutor said all of the bullets seized from Garcia were for .38-caliber, 9 mm and .22-caliber firearms. Such ammunition is “like gold in the Dominican Republic,” he said.
Holland said Reynoso told police he had “a shipping type of business” and that the $25,000 in cash must have come from Garcia cashing a business check.
“Where is the crime?” de la Cruz asked. The lawyer said Garcia had lived in New Hampshire for three years before recently moving to Haverhill.
“He bought the guns legally,” de la Cruz said. “He never hid the fact that he had them.”
Furthermore, de la Cruz said that when Garcia moved to Haverhill, he had a 60-day grace period to obtain a Massachusetts firearms card.
“There is no crime committed,” he argued, saying there was no evidence that Garcia was shipping guns or ammunition to the Dominican Republic.
He asked the judge to allow his client “to go back to his job.” He said Garcia has worked at a local bakery for three years.
Yesterday, Freeman Street residents interviewed by The Eagle-Tribune said they did not know anything about Garcia or guns and ammunition being stored at or shipped from his home.
Medline Abiles, of 43 Freeman St., who resides across the street from Garcia’s house, said that in the two months she has lived in the neighborhood, she has not observed any weapons or ammunition and had no reason to be suspicious. Her sister, Carmen Reyes, who visits frequently, said she also had never noticed anything suspicious at the two-family house at 12 Freeman St.
Source: The Eagle Tribune
June 12th, 2009 at 7:08 am
[...] Man Held On $500,000 Bond For Having To Much Ammunition [...]
June 24th, 2009 at 7:53 am
Absolutely absurd! A draconian judge. This man has done nothing wrong and should sue the city for wrongful arrest. I know many people who have more ammo than that, and they even reload, so there is no limit to the amount of ammo they can reload and store and …. they can use the same brass over and over. I personally use at least one and a half or two cases a month just range shooting. This it my sport; my hobby. The government has no business getting into my life or anyone else’s life. Our second ammendment was just recenltly upheld by the supreme court in Heller vs. Washington D.C.
July 9th, 2009 at 11:59 pm
The man didn’t break any laws. Why in the world would they arrest him? I hope he takes legal action against all involved in this breach of law. Our country is going down fast with the president and congress that we have. People – unite and fight these ‘cowards’ in office…. .. .
July 12th, 2009 at 11:07 am
We are subject to laws passed in the dead of night and we succumb to them because we’ve put up no objection to them. Since we trusted the elected officials to tell the police what laws to enforce it’s really our fault. Too bad that these laws/privileges were given to us by the government. They can be changed to humans’ liking bec we gave them the right to. Only way to fight these draconian ways is to be vigilant and prepared. Like, trust, but verify. Where’ve I heard that? Not lately. Keep your eyes and ears open to all sides. One good thing about BHO it shows there’s some tolerance where there was none. Mr. Bush was just a different color and following orders. I’m not intelligent enough to be like those guys.
July 12th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
For bail to be imposed, a charge of _some_ kind has to have been made. Does Massachusetts have some law against posession over a certain amount of ammunition? I know of no such federal law. If no illegal import-export activity is going on, he should SUE THEIR ASSES OFF! Give a DA an inch, and he thinks he’s a ruler…….
July 13th, 2009 at 8:42 am
I love these “consent searches.” The police show up and scare the crap out of the wife by saying things like “Your children could get blown up!” or “We’ll have to arrest you, too and put your children in foster care!” I’m NOT saying that these officers did this, but this is how it works.
We should expect that all of our doors will soon be booted in.
July 14th, 2009 at 9:02 am
This matter is only the start of what the Obama administration has in store for legal gun owners. Everyone had better sit up and pay attention to every bill and treaty coming up for a vote in Congress. Eric Holder is a shifty guy that wants every person in the US disarmed, so the Obama agenda can proceed without any real opposition. This is only the tip of the iceberg.
July 14th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
Sit back and twiddle your thumbs or do something. Better get it done before its too late. We’ll be burned for being witches next !
July 16th, 2009 at 10:15 am
I fail to see what this guy has done, other than be prepared. I am kind of jealous at how organized he must be to have 30,000 rounds stored. Does Jay Leno get arrested for owning too many cars?? “Now, Mr. Leno, you could never possibly need 300 cars. If you drove three cars a day it would take you over three months to drive them all.”
This is a test case to see if these petty apparatchiks can get away with it. They will be trying more things like this. Just like they did when they disarmed law-abiding citizens in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. They want to see if they can do it (and whether anyone will put up a fight). Does anyone know whether this case has proceeded and whether the NRA is fighting (or helping with lawyers and amicus briefs) on this guy’s case?
July 18th, 2009 at 12:54 am
This seems to be a pattern around the country. The DA’s office in Colorado Springs does the same thing.
If you come across more stories of Legal Corruption, anywhere in the U.S. contact:
http://www.legallycorrupt.com
dacorrupt.inco@gmail.com
http://twitter.com/DAcorrupt_inCO
July 19th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
What everyone seems to forget is that ALL rights belong to the citizenry -except- the ones specifically outlined in the Constitution as reserved for the state and federal governments. The government does not give and take rights as it pleases, at least legally or morally. All rights are already ours.
July 27th, 2009 at 9:29 am
Taxachusetts is a hard left socialist Republik. The people there elect idiots like Comrade Kennedy et al. They are so brainwashed that nothing would surprise me about their so-called gun laws. Kalifornia ranks right beside them. If any politicos tried that here in flyover land, they’d find themselves out of a job pretty darned quick. Since the libs will no listen to reason and refuse to obey the Constitution, then we have no choice but massive civil disobedience. Keep all the ammo you can get, and keep your guns in good working order. Things are coming to a head in this country.
August 12th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
If the man was not a citizen yet, he should not have been able to purchase a gun….. Our rights and freedoms should not be available to foreigners until they have become a LEGAL citizen. Another example of gun laws that the socialists push and do not enforce. As for a CITIZEN(legal only) possessing 30,000 rounds of ammo, it is a right, not a crime.
Communist controlled Mass/Taxachussets operates under communic/socialist rule, not The Constitution of The Sovereign Republic of The United States of America. I find it very difficult to believe that the American Revolution really started in Mass. This shows how far the United States has degraded by allowing socialists and communists to infest our country.
I don’t mind saying or hearing: “Death to Socialism”, matter of fact, I like hearing it and I say it a lot.
August 12th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
I was confused until seeing that this “crime” occured in Taxachusetts. The state is an insult to the memory of the founding fathers, having become the same sort of tyrannical government that Washington and the Colonial Army fought AGAINST. Taxachusetts is almost unrecognizable as a member of the United States…it is certainly NOT a sovereign state of the union anymore. I do agree with THW that a non citizen should not be allowed to own guns or ammo…that right is reserved for citizens. BUT for the average citizen this should be a case of the police violating the CIVIL RIGHTS of a legal citizen!
If this sort of lunacy spreads to the rest of the country, we’ll be forced to take our rights back! Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, but keep those thousands of rounds of ammo hand, eh?
August 12th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
What sort of tyrannical abuse of the law is this. This is one of the most egregious disregarding of rights I’ve ever heard about. I understand that this happened in Marxachusetts, but that is draconian even for them.
If the man bought the guns and ammunition legally, then what’s the problem. Is there a law, Federal or Mass. that limits the amount you can buy or own. If not, why was this man arrested and why was such an exorbitant Bond imposed upon him.
Something about this doesn’t quit pass the smell test. If this man was wrongfully arrested and imprisoned, I hope he sues everyone involved, for the highest amount he can received.
This kind of tyranny must not be allowed to become common place in this nation. For that matter, including Marxachesetts.
August 13th, 2009 at 10:04 am
One commenter, THW, claims he was not legal to buy a gun being that he is an alien.
WRONG.
Legal aliens are allowed to buy and own firearms under Federal Law.
That being said I can see absolutely no law being broke here. Liberal DAs see 30,000 rounds and they think TERRORIST.
Most were probably .22 LR. If is very easy to shoot 500 of these in a single day and many times I have shot 750. I have shot 450 in one day from a single shot pistol!!!
I hope he makes lot’s of money when he sues these fools.
September 16th, 2009 at 7:02 am
Utah’s constitution says that every person who takes away a weapon or ammo from a citizen can be criminally and civilly charged with a felony. Therefore, cops are scared to take stuff away. If they become a felon then they cannot be a police officer anymore since felons cannot be in possession of a firearm. Arizona’s constitution says that in no way shall the state pass any legislation limiting the amount of weapons or ammunition that an individual can own. Oh and by the way, the purchasing of firearms and firearms ownership is not given by the constitution or by being a citizen. Owning weapons and ammunition is a God-given right. The constitution only protects that right.
September 17th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
He was apparently arrested and charged with intent to export the ammo illegally. That being said – as far as I know, he broke no laws by owning ammo. Many people buy (guns &) ammo as an investment, and lately those investments have outperformed the stock market handsomely.
.38, 9mm, and .22 ammo is hardly the stuff terrorists lust after. Those calibers are typical for run of the mill target ammo. The police abandoned those calibers decades ago because they lacked stopping power.
I do think the poor guy ought to have his head examined for leaving the free state of New Hampshire to live in the People’s Republic of Massachusetts.
WTF?
September 22nd, 2009 at 8:40 am
So it will take him weeks to shoot it up, so what?
When I was an active target shooter it was nothing for me to go through 500 to 1000 rounds of .22LR in a week, and I bought in bulk, usually 10,000 rounds at a crack, which was gone in weeks.
September 22nd, 2009 at 10:39 am
there is a man in ohio who was arrested a couple months ago for having a large amont of food and ammo. the cops said this cant be legal so they arrested him and last i had heard he was waiting a hearing.