Convicted Sex Offender From NJ Found With Loaded AR-15 After Crash: PD

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Toms River man is facing multiple weapons charges after he was found with a loaded AR-15 and a loaded handgun following a motor vehicle crash early Sunday morning in Mantoloking, police said.

Jeremy W. Barringer, 46, was arrested following the crash, which happened just after 3 a.m. Sunday on the 1200 block of Ocean Avenue, also known as Route 35 in Mantoloking.

Patrolman Logan LaRue, who responded to the crash, found Barringer was wearing body armor, Mantoloking police said.

Barringer, who is a convicted sex offender, also had a loaded AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, a loaded 9mm handgun, three magazines for the AR-15 loaded with hollow-point bullets and extra magazines for the handgun, also loaded with hollow-point bullets, and a holster, police said.

Seized were 59 9mm hollowpoint bullets, and 80 5.56 hollowpoint rifle rounds, police said.

Barringer has been charged with eight counts of possession of high-capacity magazines, one count of unlawful possession of a rifle, unlawful possession of a handgun, possession of hollowpoint ammunition, and possession of a weapon after being a convicted sex offender.

According to the New Jersey State Police sex offender registry, Barringer was convicted in 1999 in Missouri of approaching young women on the street, getting into their homes and sexually assaulting them.

Mantoloking police said additional charges are pending against Barringer, who is being held at the Ocean County Jail.

"We would like to thank Bay Head police for backing up our officer," the Mantoloking police news release said.

The Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, the New Jersey Joint Terrorism Task Force, the FBI and the NJ Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness assisted with the investigation, police said.

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