Police Officer Accused Of Making, Selling Illegal Weapons

GOSHEN, NY — A New York City Department of Environmental Protection police sergeant was accused of manufacturing dozens of handguns and assault rifles and selling them to people who are legally prohibited from having those weapons. Orange County District David M. Hoovler said Gregg Marinelli, 38, of Plattekill, was charged with the following:

• Two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, a felonies, for illegally selling more than five firearms in a one-year period and as an accessory
• Third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, a felony, as an accessory for another person's possession of a weapon he defaced and sold
• Manufacture/disposition of a weapon, a felony, for manufacturing numerous assault rifles
• Fourth-degree conspiracy, a felony, for conspiring to sell a loaded and defaced .40 caliber pistol
• Second-degree Hindering prosecution, a felony, for alerting a suspect that he was the target of a police investigation

Hoovler said Marinelli holds the rank of sergeant and is a team leader of an emergency service unit located outside of New York City.

Police said the defendant assembled the guns in his Ulster County home and sold them to others, including members of outlaw motorcycle groups and those with criminal convictions, sometimes delivering the illegal weapon using his marked police car.

Many of the weapons sold by Marinelli were "ghost" guns, authorities said, meaning he manufactured them without serial numbers or were in some instances defaced weapons that had their serial numbers removed.

"Ghost" guns are difficult to trace and are often sought after by those planning to use the guns illegally, Hoovler said.

The investigation into Marinelli began out of a recent enforcement action called "Operation Bread, White and Blues," which concentrated on two separate conspiracies, one of which involved members and associates of self-professed outlaw motorcycle clubs trafficking cocaine and another which involved the sale of narcotic pills. Firefighters and former police officers were among those arrested.

Marinelli is not accused of any offenses related to narcotics sales but became a subject of the investigation when information was found suggesting he may have alerted a suspect he was a target of the investigation, police said.

Members of the state police, aided by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Explosives and Firearms, executed a search warrant at Marinelli's home in Plattekill Feb. 26 and recovered gun parts, tools used to manufacture weapons and numerous firearms.

State police said they recovered 13 handguns and assault rifles from others which were created and sold by Marinelli.

While police officers are generally exempt from offenses related to weapons possession, Hoovler said, Marinelli was charged with acting in concert with other in their illegal possession of weapons he had sold them.

He is currently being held in the Orange County Jail in lieu of $200,000 bail or $600,000 bond. He is next scheduled to appear in court March 7.

Hoovler said he was outraged that a police officer would sell the types of weapons used to kill innocent people, including police officers.

"The type of 'ghost' guns which were recovered in this case are valuable to criminals precisely because they are difficult to trace," he said.

"A police office who alerts an armed drug dealer who has proudly proclaimed his status as 'outlaw' motorcycle club member, that he is the subject of police investigation, not only compromises that investigation, but put his fellow police officers at risk," Hoovler said.

SEE: Firefighters, Bikers Ran Drug Rings in Orange, Rockland: DA

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