The guns were legal, Scott Barone claims. And police had no right to rummage through his Cleveland Road house looking for them.
That was the defense he gave Tuesday about his recent arrest at his home near the Yale ballfields in Westville. Police charged Barone last month after they found cocaine and guns — including an Uzi—in his house while responding to a burglar alarm.
It was one of three alleged arsenals police have found recently inside homes in quiet middle-class neighborhoods. (Click here and here to read about the others.)
Barone was charged with four drug-related offenses — including intent to sell within 1,500 feet of a school — and with illegal possession of an assault weapon, the Uzi. Police confiscated drugs, cash, 13 guns, various ammunition, three bb guns, two knives, and a sword from the house. Most of the guns were registered to Barone’s brother; some had no record.
Several hours after a brief court appearance on Tuesday morning, Barone sat down for an interview in his home. His case has been continued until November.
Barone declined to speak on the record about the charges that he was dealing drugs, but he answered the weapons accusation. The Uzi was legal, he said. Some of the guns aren’t, he acknowledged, but the model in his house was legal.
Gun Hobby
“I was born in this house 47 years ago,” he said. Barone said he’s divorced, with four kids, and currently employed by a trash company in Clinton.
Wearing a sleeveless navy blue shirt and work boots, Barone took a seat at his cluttered kitchen table. A huge yellow weightlifting machine sat nearby, not far from Barone’s colorful parrot, Bella Storm, perched on its cage. As he spoke, Barone kept an eye on a small TV mounted under his kitchen cabinets tuned to ESPN.
“I’ve collected guns ever since I was 18 years old,” Barone said. He said he hadn’t touched his guns for years. “They were up in the attic collecting dust.”
He said that the weapons were no longer technically his anyway. “I had a domestic three years ago,” he explained. He got in trouble after a dispute with his girlfriend and police told him he had to either sell his guns or transfer ownership to someone else, he said. At that point he transferred them all to his brother.
All of the guns had the proper paperwork, except for one shotgun, Barone insisted. “I listed all of them.”
The Uzi was legal and registered, he contended, contradicting police arrest reports. “Certain kinds are illegal. That one was legal,” he said.
“I never shot the Uzi,” he said. “I did shoot the AK.”
Police said they took 13 guns from his home. “For a gun collector, I think it was a small amount,” Barone said.
He described his gun collection as a regular hobby, unrelated to any of the drug charges against him. “It’s just like anything else,” he said. He picked up guns “when they were available. You work hard enough, you want to show something for it.”
“Hopefully I won’t go to jail,” he said. “The guns have nothing to do with what else was found in here.”
Search & Seizure
Speaking about his arrest last month, Barone presented himself as the victim of police misconduct.
“I think I was violated,” he said. Police had no right to go through his belongings, Barone argued.
Here’s what happened, according to police reports:
On Sept. 10, officers responded at 2:42 a.m. to a burglar alarm at Barone’s house. They found the door open and went inside to do a “protective sweep” of the building. Inside, officers found drugs and bb guns in plain sight. Peering into an open armoire in the master bedroom, they found cocaine and cash. Inside an open filing cabinet drawer they spotted more drugs. There were also a few bullets on the night stand in the bedroom, boxes of ammunition in the bedroom and in the basement, and a loaded .41 caliber Uzi magazine in the living room.
Looking to see if any intruders were hiding in the attic, Sgt. Marcucio opened a closet door and found: a .44 caliber Ruger revolver with scope, a .44 Ruger rifle, a .22 Marlin rifle, a 12 gauge Winchester rifle, a .762 “unknown make rifle”, a 12 gauge Remington rifle, a .357 Ruger revolver, a 12 gauge Musberg rifle, a .762 Polytech rifle, a .41 Action Arms Uzi with extra barrel, a 12 gauge George Browning rifle, an antique flintlock rifle, and a percussion cap musket rifle.
Police confiscated all the guns from the house, for “safe keeping.”
On Tuesday, Barone questioned the police methods. “They went from looking at bullets to looking at my drawers in my armoire?” he said incredulously. He said that he couldn’t remember if he had left the armoire and filing cabinet open, but said that he usually closes them.
“It was a bad search,” he argued.
His arrest stunned his family and friends, Barone said. “It hit a lot of people because I know a lot of people,” he said. His family has been “sticking by” him, he said.
Barone is scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 11.