A Richmond Hill man was charged with transporting guns and ammo into Queens after he was buying weapons and ammunition recently at a gun show in Pennsylvania.
Richard McCormick, 42, was arraigned on Tuesday, Aug. 17, before Queens Criminal Court Judge Frances Wang on a 117-count criminal complaint with criminal possession of a weapon and other crimes. The criminal complaint alleges McCormick purchased a cache of high-capacity magazines, silencers, and ammunition at a gun show and drove the stockpile back to New York City, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.
According to the charges, on the morning of Aug. 15, McCormick was allegedly observed in Pennsylvania attending the Oaks Gun Show, where he allegedly purchased numerous high-capacity magazines, firearm components, and ammunition and loaded the items into a Cadillac vehicle.
The defendant then drove through New Jersey and crossed the George Washington Bridge into New York City where he was pulled over by members of the Port Authority Police Department, who seized the stockpile.
Police executed a court-ordered search warrant and allegedly recovered $8,500 in cash and a stockpile of illegal guns, high-capacity magazines, silencers, and nearly 10,000 bullets for various calibers of weapons, including 9mm and .45 caliber firearms in the defendant’s Richmond Hill home on 85th Drive, according to the charges.
“The scourge of illegal guns in our city has caused bloodshed and heartache,” Katz said. “This defendant is accused of taking advantage of the easy access to guns outside of our state in order to bring them into our communities. This is an all-time, too often issue in our city. We will now seek to bring this defendant to justice for his alleged crimes.”
Judge Wang ordered McCormick held without bail and set his return date for Aug. 20. If convicted, McCormick faces up to 20 years in prison.
