Police discovered a small cache of high-powered weaponry inside a Maspeth man’s home on Saturday afternoon after responding to a domestic dispute at the location, prosecutors said.
Law enforcement sources said Ivan Valle, 53, allegedly got into a fight with his son inside a home on 60th Street near 59th Drive at about 11:30 p.m. on April 21, prompting a visit from 104th Precinct officers.
Upon arrival, according to information provided by the Queens District Attorney’s office, the officers learned that Valle allegedly swung a wooden stick at his son several times. The elder Valle was subsequently taken into custody on charges including menacing, harassment and criminal possession of a weapon.
While he was being processed, prosecutors said, Valle allegedly told police that he kept guns for a friend inside a safe inside the 60th Street home. Police secured written consent from Valle to search the safe on Saturday afternoon, April 22.
Upon opening the safe, authorities said, police found inside a black .223-caliber Bushmaster assault rifle along with 294 cartridges and three large-capacity magazines. It’s the same model of weapon used in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, CT in December of 2012.
Police also found inside the safe a black 7.62 AK-47 assault rifle; a white American arms revolver; a brown .300 Weatherby Vanguard VGX rifle; a green .22-250 Remington 700 rifle; a green .223 Rossi Braztech rifle; a black 12-gauge Mossberg 930 shotgun; a brown .357 Interarms 92SRS rifle; a black .22 Marlin rifle; a brown 12-gauge New England SB1 shotgun; a brown .22 Marlin rifle; a brown Mitchel PPS .50 rifle; and a brown Fabrica de Armas 7.62 mm rifle.
All of the weapons had valid serial numbers, but prosecutors said that Valle did not have proper permits to own the assault rifles recovered from the scene.
Valle was additionally booked on multiple counts of second-, third- and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon and 12 counts of lacking permits for possession and purchase of rifles and shotguns.
Following his arraignment, Valle was ordered held on a combined $77,500 bail and to return to court on May 5, according to a spokesperson for Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown.
