Stolen Gun, Weapons, Drugs Recovered In Car Involved In Crash: Maryland State Police

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — A loaded stolen firearm has been recovered by Maryland State Police while they were on the scene of a car crash involving a suspected impaired driver that happened in Prince George's County Saturday shortly after midnight.

The suspect, John Michael Brand, 40, of White Plains, has been charged with firearm possession with a felony conviction, loaded handgun in vehicle, possession of a regulated stolen firearm and other criminal charges, according to the Maryland State Police.

Brand was found unconscious in the driver's seat of his vehicle, which was found wedged against the guardrail southbound in the northbound lanes on Route 301 near Timothy Branch Drive in Brandywine. A probable cause search yielded a stolen handgun loaded with an 8-round magazine and one round in the chamber under the passenger seat, according to the police. During the investigation, troopers learned the gun was reported stolen in 2020 through the Brighton Township Police Department in Pennsylvania. Police also found a brass knuckle/knife combination and illegal drugs in the vehicle.

Brand was uninjured in the crash and is at the Prince George’s County Detention Center.