By Mark Hallum
OAKLAND GARDENS – Officers executing a search warrant at an Oakland Gardens home uncovered 71 firearms, including pistols, assault rifles, rifles, handguns and shotguns Sunday, police said.
Resident Ronald Drabman, 60, was charged with one count of first-degree criminal possession of a weapon, nine counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, one count of first-degree criminal sale of a firearm, one count of fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property and 17 counts of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
Officers also found dozens of high capacity magazines and about 50,000 rounds of ammunition at the residence.
“The defendant is accused of using his home as a warehouse for illegal firearms — along with tens of thousands of rounds of live ammunition,” Brown said. “This stockpile of weapons poses a great risk to the residents of Queens. It is extremely disturbing to find such an arsenal of firearms in a residential community. The defendant now faces a lengthy term of incarceration for this obsession with weapons.”
One of the weapons recovered was a homemade firearm known as a zip gun.
Police from the 81st Precinct in Brooklyn were following an investigation, which led them into the 111th to seize the weapons upon obtaining a search warrant from the Queens District Attorney’s office, according to cops.
Drabman has yet to be arraigned, but faces 25 years in prison if convicted, Brown said.
— Mark Hallum
