Epsom Felon Busted on Stolen Gun Charges

CONCORD, NH - A local felon was arrested yesterday afternoon after police learned that an alleged stolen gun sale transaction might be occurring in the parking lot of the Steeplegate Mall.

Christopher D. Barker, 22, of Epsom, was arrested on March 29, 2016, and charged with two counts of receiving stolen property and two counts of felon in possession of dangerous weapons, all felonies.

Editor’s note: This post was derived from information supplied by the Concord Police Department. It does not indicate a conviction. Click this link to find out how to get a name removed from a New Hampshire Patch police report.

According to police, The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Drug Task Force as well as the Merrimack County Sheriff’s Office, the ATF, and police from Enfield, Lebanon, and Hartford, VT, were investigating two residential burglaries reportedly involving stolen firearms in Enfield and Hartford, VT.

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During the course of the investigations, the agencies learned that Barker was allegedly in possession of two handguns stolen from the homes. Yesterday afternoon, police learned that Barker “would be in Concord and would have possession of the stolen firearms,” according to Lt. Timothy O’Malley, the commander of the criminal investigations unit in Concord.

“At approximately 3 p.m. yesterday detectives received information that Barker was in the parking lot of the Steeplegate Mall with the intention of selling the firearms to a another person,” O’Malley said in a statement. “Uniformed officers from both Concord PD and the MCSO initiated a motor vehicle stop shortly thereafter, taking Barker into custody without incident. Both of the suspected stolen firearms were found in his possession.”

Barker was out on three years probation after being convicted of Acts Prohibited (drug offenses) in Grafton County Superior Court. According to Jeffrey Lyons of the New Hampshire Department of Corrections, he began serving probation in December 2014 and would have concluded the sentenced in December 2018. The department has no record of Barker serving any time in prison on the charges, according to Lyons.

Barker was charged, processed, and refused bail. He’s currently being held in the Merrimack County House of Corrections and was scheduled to be arraigned this morning, according to police.