Absent-Minded 66YO Had Illegal Weapons Cache: Rockland Sheriff

A cache of illegal weapons came to light after a Rockland man allegedly left legal handguns in Las Vegas hotels. Paul M. Elmowsky Jr. now faces multiple weapons charges.

The arrest, which was made on Monday, was the result of a joint operation by Rockland law enforcement agencies, the NYPD, The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and the Southern Nevada Counter-Terrorism Center.

Rockland County Sheriff Louis Falco III said the Rockland County Sheriff’s Office and the Rockland County Intelligence Center learned about an incident in Vegas involving the 66-year-old Nyack resident.

Elmowsky had traveled to Las Vegas in early December and had stayed at several hotels over several weeks, police said. The Las Vegas Metro PD became aware that Elmowsky left behind three handguns at two of the hotels. The guns were legally registered to him in New York. .

Those weapons remain in the custody of the Las Vegas Metro PD.

Elmowsky was interviewed by the Las Vegas Metro PD and was ultimately released. On Dec. 26 he was escorted to the airport where he took a return flight to the New York area.

Due to the incident involving his weapons in Las Vegas, Elmowsky’s pistol permit was
suspended in Rockland County and he was ordered to surrender all of the remaining weapons on
his permit.

So police officers from the Rockland County Sheriff’s Office, the Rockland County
Intelligence Center and other cooperating agencies responded to Elmowsky’s residence on
Dec. 31 in order to enforce the suspension order and take custody of his weapons.

They say they found several illegal assault weapons, multiple handguns that were not legally registered to him, multiple high capacity magazines, a quantity of ammunition and marijuana.

Elmowsky was placed under arrest for multiple weapons charges and criminal possession of marijuana.

Elmowsky was arraigned on New Year's Day before Judge Richard Finning at the Town of Orangetown Justice Court on the following charges:

• 1 count of Criminal Possession of a Weapon 2 nd Degree a class C felony
• 3 counts of Criminal Possession of a Weapon 3 rd Degree a class D felony
• 4 counts of Criminal Possession of a Weapon 4 th Degree a class A misdemeanor
• 22 counts of Possession of a Large Capacity Ammunition Feeding Device, a class A misdemeanor
• 1 count of Criminal Possession of Marihuana 4 th Degree a class A misdemeanor

Elmowsky was sent to the Rockland County Correctional Facility on $100,000 bail,
where he remains in custody. The investigation remains ongoing. There is no known connection to terrorism at this time.

“The gathering and sharing of law enforcement intelligence plays a crucial role in successful police investigations and keeping the public safe," Sheriff Falco said. "This is a prime example of
the sharing of information between law enforcement agencies, which in this particular case were
several thousand miles apart. I would like to thank all of our cooperating law enforcement
partners who assisted in this investigation.”

The Orangetown Police Department and the New York City Police Department also assisted Rockland agencies.

Image via Shutterstock