A Holland Tunnel traffic stop uncovered an arms cache in a van on Tuesday, leading to charges against three people who said they were on their way to New York City to rescue a teenage girl, according to news media first thinking the incident might be terrorism-related.
The trio wasn't traveling incognito. Their van stuck out like the "Ghostbusters" ambulance.
Port Authority Police arrested Dean Smith, 53; John Cramsey, 50; and Kimberley Arendt, 29, all of Pennsylvania, on numerous gun charges after they said they found drugs, loaded handguns, rifles, and 2,000 rounds of ammunition in the van, reported the
New York Daily News.
Cramsey, owner of Higher Ground Tactical gun range in Upper Milford, Pennsylvania, told authorities he was on the rescue mission when he was stopped with Smith and Arendt, reported the
Allentown Morning Call.
The van advertising Cramsey's business was "decorated with anti-drug dealer and pro-gun logos and banners," the Morning Call said.
The
New York Post said the charges included weapons possession, transport of a high-capacity magazine, and transport of an assault firearm.
The van was stopped at a toll plaza on the New Jersey side when a Port Authority officer noticed a broken windshield and then spotted a loaded gun magazine inside, the Daily News said. Everyone was ordered out of the vehicle and it was searched.
"The driver was sitting on a loaded .45 so that opened the door to everything else," Port Authority police spokesman Joseph Pentangelo told the Daily News.
The vehicle had a picture of the U.S. Constitution and the Second Amendment on the side along with an arrow as an antenna, wrote
WNBC-TV.
Authorities told the Post they took an AR-15 assault rifle, a 12-gauge shotgun and five semi-automatic handguns from the vehicle. The Morning Call said authorities also found marijuana and a marijuana pipe, body armor, and knives. The Daily News said bulletproof vests were also found.
The Associated Press reported that Cramsey wrote on Smith's Facebook page Tuesday that he was driving to New York to "do an extraction" of a 16-year-old girl from a hotel room in Brooklyn after an issue involving drugs. Smith replied, "I'm there," noted The AP.
The Morning Call said Cramsey had lost a daughter to a heroin overdose and spoke out about the heroin epidemic at a Pennsylvania town hall roundtable meeting in February.
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