Crime & Safety

Local Man 'Cools Down' From Fight - With Gun and Heroin in Car

Dispute with girlfriend leads one man to drive around local neighborhoods with loaded semi-automatic and packets of heroin.

It was a cooling off ride that should have never been taken by a local man.

On March 9, police responded to the area of Margherita Lawn on a complaint of a suspicious vehicle driving around the neighborhood.

The complainant told police that the vehicle was driving erratically, stopping in front of houses and then pulling away.

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Police determined from the license number provided by the caller that the owner of the car was Raymond O’Connell, Jr., 29, of Victoria Lawn.

Officers responded and located the car just south of Stratford Road. As officers approached O’Connell, they noted that he seemed “extremely nervous.”

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He was asked why he was driving around the neighborhood stopping in front of residences and he told police that he was having an argument with his girlfriend on the phone and was driving around to “cool off.”

When asked if there was anything illegal in the car, O’Connell did not answer. Police then observed a handgun laying in plain view on the passenger seat.

Police removed O’Connell from the vehicle, placed him in handcuffs and put him in a patrol car. The handgun, a loaded Ruger 9mm semi-automatic, was secured by police. Police noted that there were 16 rounds in the weapon magazine, which was equipped with a hand grip extension to accommodate the high capacity magazine.

While securing the handgun, police noted small pieces of folded wax paper laying near the center console. Police noted in their report that “heroin is often transported in small pieces of folded wax paper.”

At that time, officers secured the car and called for the canine officer and dog to come to the scene to check for narcotics. The canine officer reported that he found 12 pieces of folded wax paper that contained a substance that the drug dog indicated was narcotics.

During their investigation, police found a bottle of oxycodone that belonged to a third party and an additional magazine containing 10 rounds for Ruger firearm.

When police ran a pistol permit check on O’Connell, they found that he had a permit but that it had expired. When they checked the serial number of the handgun, they found it was registered to O’Connell’s father.

When asked how he gained possession of the gun, O’Connell stated that he took it from his father’s house. He stated that his father had no idea that the gun was missing, adding that his father had “lots of guns” and that he knows where they are kept.

When police contacted the father, he told police that he did not know it was missing and provided police with a statement saying same.

O’Connell was then taken to headquarters where he was charged with weapons in a motor vehicle, criminal possession of a pistol, possession of heroin, theft of a firearm and possession of Oxycodone.

The total weight of the heroin was 2.8 grams. He was held in $85,000 bond pending a court date on March 16.


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