Channel 7 eyewitness news, ABC, New York
May 9 2005

Man Busted, Charged with trying to Buy Illegal Weapons

(Rego Park-WABC, May 9, 2005) – A man from Queens is under arrest for
allegedly wanting to buy six hand grenades. He’s accused of trying to
make a deal with a person who turned out to be an undercover cop.

It happened in Rego Park. Eyewitness News’ Nina Pineda reports.

People who live across the hall, right next to the man say they were
sick when they found out he had an Uzi inside of the apartment and
was reportedly trying to build some sort of mini- arsenal. They tell
us this was the crazy neighbor, the one who ranted and raved about
the U.S. government, conspiracy theories, and talked about blowing
things up. They didn t take him seriously.

Police nabbed the 56-year-old man allegedly trying to buy the
explosives near his Rego Park home. They say their investigation
revealed the suspect had a business deal go bad on him. Police say he
is an American citizen of Armenian-Jewish decent who reportedly tried
to solicit help by writing letters to area rabbis. When he didn t get
the response he wanted, they say he wrote to a judge and Senator
Charles Schumer.

Neighbors said he seemed angry and unstable. Police say he was a
disturbed person who already had an arsenal: a machine gun in the
apartment along with illegal assault weapon 149 rounds of ammunition.

Police are charging him with possession of illegal weapons, and
attempting to possess illegal weaponry.