An East Hampton man was arrested on multiple weapons charges on Friday morning following a raid at his residence at 21 Wireless Road. Police said the extensive search produced 17 firearms, all found inside the house: six assault weapons, five shotguns, five rifles, and a loaded 25-caliber handgun.
A video taken at around 8 a.m. from the nearby intersection of Dayton and Toilsome Lanes shows members of the townwide emergency services unit, similar to a SWAT team, surrounding and handcuffing Christopher R. Fausett, 57, near the open driver's-side door of a white Jeep. A large black armored police vehicle — a Lenco BearCat, or Ballistic Engineered Armored Response Counter Attack Truck, designed for military and law enforcement applications, can be seen in the background.
"He was not arrested there," East Hampton Town Detective Sgt. Daniel Toia said on Tuesday. "He was detained, and taken back to his address."
After being tipped off that there might be illegal firearms in the house, town detectives obtained a warrant to conduct the raid. Wireless Road is a residential street, just outside East Hampton Village limits. "We were able to corroborate the information," Detective Toia said.
After officers arrived there with the search warrant, Detective Toia said, they "let him leave the home. We knew there was a non-participant in the house, that being his mother, so we let him leave the home and walk down the road to avoid the threat of a shootout."
Police followed Mr. Fausett's Jeep and eventually brought him back to the house, "where we ultimately made the decision to make the arrest, due to what we found."
Mr. Fausett was charged with several counts of criminal possession of a weapon, including six felonies and two misdemeanors, and two related felonies. He has "a minor criminal history," said Detective Toia.
"Some guns he was in legal possession of," said Detective Toia, "but every assault weapon and handgun were definitely illegal. Seven guns altogether were illegal to possess -- that's the assault weapons -- and the handgun -- which you're not allowed to possess at all in New York State unless grandfathered in before the SAFE act, and none were."
Mr. Fausett was held for the remainder of the day and night at town police headquarters in Wainscott, and arraigned via video on Saturday morning before East Hampton Town Justice Steven Tekulsky. He posted bail of $1,000, with a bond of $10,000, and is due back in court to answer the charges on Sept. 24.