A Glendale man was charged with possessing an arsenal of illegal weapons and ghost gun kits that were recovered during raids on his home and a nearby storage unit on Wednesday, March 1, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced Saturday.
Grzegorz Blachowicz, 36, was arraigned Thursday before Queens Criminal Court Judge Jessica Earle-Gargan on a 131-count complaint charging him with possession of a fully assembled assault rifle and a slew of other weapons possession charges.
On March 1, officers from the NYPD’s Emergency Services Unit and Major Case Field Intelligence Team, and the Queens DA’s Detective Bureau executed the search warrant at his multi-family residence at 74-20 64th Ln. near Mount Carmel Cemetery in Glendale where they recovered a fully assembled Polymer 80 semi-automatic assault pistol ghost gun, multiple ghost gun kits, ammunition, two bullet-resistant vests, a taser and government-issued identification, a passport identification card and a social security card, all bearing the name of Grzegorz Blachowicz.
Next, law enforcement teams executed a court-authorized search warrant at his parent’s home on 70th Street just south of Central Avenue in Glendale where they recovered nine complete ghost gun assault weapon build kits for AR-9, AR-10, AR-15 and AR-30 assault rifles.
They also recovered two complete model AK-47 assault rifle ghost gun build kits, and components to build a wide variety of automatic pistols, dozens of silencers and a ghost gunner, a CNC Masters milling machine that gives the owner the ability to take unfinished lower receivers and convert them into components that can be further completed to build fully functioning firearms, according to prosecutors.
Also seized at the storage unit behind the aircraft mechanic’s parent home were thousands of rounds of ammunition in a variety of calibers, 207 large-capacity ammunition feeding devices, and 25 “solvent traps,” that can be readily made into firearm suppressors or silencers.
During his interrogation by the 104th Precinct Detective Squad, Blachowicz claimed he was “just a collector” and had never even fired any of the weapons. He also told detectives he often travels to Pennsylvania to “visit family” and picks up ghost gun kits and ships them back to Glendale as part of his “hobby,” according to the criminal complaint. A check conducted by the License and Permits database revealed that Blachowicz does not hold a license to possess or own firearms in New York City.
“Ghost gun trafficking is a developing cottage industry that threatens to make an already pervasive gun violence problem even worse,” Katz said. “That is why this case is so important and why my office is a leader in the fight against ghost guns.”
According to the charges, members of the Queens District Attorney’s Office were conducting a long-term investigation into the purchase of polymer-based, unserialized firearm components by Blachowicz.
The components are easily assembled into operable firearms without traceable serial numbers, commonly referred to as “ghost guns,” that enable users to skirt background checks.
If convicted, Blachowicz faces up to 15 years in prison.
