A court in New Jersey denied bail to a man who had been arrested for entering a restricted area on a bridge, because empty magazines were found "capable of holding high-capacity ammunition". This is New Jersey for you, crazy Anti-Gun. The young man, a former soldier, was ordered to be held in jail, without opportunity for bond. He was probably just interested in exploring urban architecture and seeing surrounding bridges. A former soldier from Wallington was caught doing "reconnaissance" on the George Washington Bridge and may have been planning a wider assault on local bridges and tunnels, Bergen County prosecutors said at a court hearing Monday. Daniel Czerepak, 29, was ordered held at the Bergen County Jail, where he has been detained since he was allegedly caught two weeks ago trying to get to a restricted area of the bridge in Fort Lee. Prosecutors offered no evidence during the hearing in Hackensack that Czerepak had access to firearms or had made statements threatening an attack. But officials found empty magazines capable of holding high-capacity ammunition in his Wallington home and were told of unusual behavior in reports by his family and Army officials, Assistant County Prosecutor Christine Gorzelany told the court. Alan Liebowitz, Czerepak's attorney, said prosecutors had presented "a flimsy basis for detention." Liebowitz said the magazines taken from the home were empty and from his client's time serving in the military. https://www.northjersey.com/story/n...ain-jail-after-reconnaissance-gwb/3896668002/ I don't know if this prosecutor actually believed this man was "planning some sort of attack" or whether it was just a dirty prosecutorial trick (not that uncommon) to get bail denied, so she would be in a better position to push him into a plea bargain, making it easier for her to win her case. Obviously because that part of New Jersey is heavily overcrowded, and it's right next to New York City, they're concerned about the possibility of any terrorism. But this seems downright crazy. This man's only real crime was trespassing into a part of public bridge he was not supposed to be in, probably because he was curious and wanted to explore. And it's yet another example of judges in some places taking extreme prejudice against any defendants that come before them with a connection to guns, even though those guns may be perfectly legal. (Guns imply "dangerous individual") Czerepak's behavior was different after his return and caused his family to worry, prosecutors said. His father allegedly told police that his son became reclusive and kept large storage containers in his car. The father asked police to look inside, but the containers were empty, Gorzelany said. Czerepak's sister, a nurse, remarked to police about his "abnormal behavior" and believed he might suffer from an untreated psychological disorder, Gorzelany said. "A lot of people have similar backgrounds and have served in the military in one way or another and do come back changed," Czerepak's lawyer said. "It shouldn't be surprising." It appears he may have also suffered discrimination here because he may have begun suffering some form of PTSD upon his return from military service. Authorities conducting a search warrant on Czerepak's home ... On what basis did the police have to conduct a search of this guy's home? Because he tried to gain access to a restricted area of a public bridge? Authorities conducting a search warrant on Czerepak's home also recovered books on construction projects and sample blueprints of bridges and buildings, she said. Maybe because he was interested in architecture and the city's bridges? Or he wanted to become an architect? Honestly, this is the type of thing I might have in my home. The article does say he had done a short internship at the local chemical company after college, and was an intelligent guy. Six high-capacity ammunition magazines -- five 30-round magazines for rifles and one 15-round magazine for a gun -- were also found, according to court records. Looks like his real crime right here, and the reason bail was denied. Police didn't even find any guns or ammunition. Electronic toll records also showed Czerepak has been to the Lincoln Tunnel, Brooklyn Bridge and Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge recently, prosecutors said. The combination was a "potential recipe for disaster," Superior Court Judge James X. Sattely said during the hearing. Oh geesh! Maybe he was just driving around the city a lot. Or sightseeing wanting to drive over the famous bridge landmarks. This hardly constitutes any sort of evidence. This is insane and crazy.
ex-military and trespassing allows them to search your home? Now all it takes is possession of an empty mag of over 10 rounds to deny bail. This is what they will do with red flag laws.
This type of story reminds one of the paranoia during The Reign of Terror, towards the end of the French Revolution (1793), or that Star Trek Next Generation episode "The Drumhead" (season 4, episode 21).
