A Hollis man was criminally charged after police discovered a cache of weapons in his vehicle during a traffic stop. He was pulled over for driving a “ghost car” with obscured license plates in East Elmhurst near LaGuardia Airport during the early morning hours of June 12.
Judd Sanson, 27, of Jamaica Avenue, was ordered held without bail after he was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on Thursday afternoon on a criminal complaint charging him with multiple counts of weapons possession, unlawful possession of pistol or revolver ammunition, and unlawful use of a police uniform or emblem and other crimes after the arsenal was found in his SUV.
According to the charges, at approximately 1:25 a.m. on Wednesday, Sanson was observed driving a black 2013 Ford Explorer with a black film covering his rear license plate and pulled over by police from the 110th Precinct in Elmhurst at 86th Street and 23rd Avenue. An NYPD officer approached the SUV and saw a black handle protruding from a holster strapped to Sanson’s right pants leg. He was asked if he had a knife, and Sanson said, “Sorry, I’ll take it off. There’s a lot of drunk people nowadays. I live in Jamaica. I was visiting my uncle.”
Sanson removed the black knife with a black handle from the holster and placed it near the center console of his vehicle,” according to the criminal complaint
The NYPD sergeant and three police officers assigned to the public safety team searched the vehicle. They recovered a black Glock semi-automatic 9 mm firearm loaded with 12 rounds of ammunition from inside a holster, which was under the driver’s seat. Also recovered were nine loaded magazines, each capable of being loaded into a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol, and 127 rounds of 9 mm ammunition from inside a bag on the rear passenger seat. Of the nine magazines, four were large-capacity feeding devices. Also recovered was a black expandable baton with the words “Left Me No Choice,” “You Gon Learn Today,” and an Arabic expression that means “Ask In God For Forgiveness” etched on the grip. Other weapons were found hanging from the ceiling of the SUV. A body armor vest with an NYPD patch and an orange reflective New York City Transit vest.
“We must protect our city,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said after Sanson was arraigned. “When a person is pulled over and possesses a loaded semi-automatic gun, more than 170 total rounds of ammunition, multiple weapons, body armor, an NYPD patch, and an MTA vest just a few blocks from the airport, we are very concerned.”
The New York Joint Terrorism Task Force and other law enforcement agencies were informed about the case. Queens Criminal Court Judge Julieta Lozano ordered Sanson held without bail and ordered him to return to court on June 17. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
“This investigation is ongoing,” Katz said. “And I thank the NYPD for apprehending the defendant on a routine traffic stop before anything else happened.”
