Dozens of Guns, Ammo Seized at Home of Lexington Man

LEXINGTON, MA – Police found dozens of guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition on Friday at the home of a Lexington man accused of racial harassment of his neighbors – none of which, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said, he is licensed to carry.

Fifty pounds of black gunpowder, 83 firearms and close to 10,000 rounds of ammunition and large-capacity feeding devices were seized from Robert Ivarson's home, Ryan told media outlets on Friday.

Ivarson, 49, has been charged with three counts of civil rights violations and one count of criminal harassment in a series of incidents, which investigators allege targeted a neighboring family, who is black.

The DA said Friday that he now faces additional charges after the police search of his home.

On Dec. 16, police responded to a report of banana peels being thrown into the driveway of a Lexington home. Officers were told that this wasn't the first time it had occurred; over the course of the year, 30 to 40 banana peels had allegedly been thrown into the driveway, according to the Middlesex County District Attorney's office.

Police began to conduct video surveillance of the home and identified Ivarson, a nearby resident, as a suspect. He was arrested after police allegedly saw him throwing a banana peel onto the victim's driveway around 4:25 a.m. on Dec. 31.

According to police records cited by the Boston Globe, officers found "numerous weapons" in Ivarson's home when they were called there twice in the 1990s. He told police he does not possess any ill will toward his neighbors and said he tosses banana peels daily when he walks for exercise, according to the report cited by the Globe.

Ivarson was arraigned Wednesday in Concord District Court. Bail was set at $10,000 and he has been ordered to wear a GPS bracelet, remain under house arrest, have no contact with the victims or potential witnesses and not possess a dangerous weapon.

Image via Middlesex County DA's office.