District Attorney announces plea in ‘Ghost Gun’ case
Goshen. Prosecutor said the defendant was creating guns using nylon and plastic with no serial numbers using a 3-D printer. Such weapons are increasingly found during the course of narcotics investigations.
| 21 Aug 2023 | 12:33
A 21-year-old Port Jervis man pled guilty in Orange County Court on Monday, Aug. 21, to second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler said that under the plea agreement, his office will recommend that Noah James McCagg be sentenced to ten years in state prison and five years of post-release supervision when he is sentenced on Oct. 30.
The case
After conducting a joint narcotics investigation with the Orange County Drug Task Force, members of the City of Port Jervis Police engaged in a foot pursuit with McCagg on March 25 on Front Street in Port Jervis.
There, authorities said, they recovered a loaded 9mm pistol and arrested McCagg. Investigation revealed that McCagg had created the pistol inside his Prospect Street, Port Jervis, residence using a 3-D printer.
In addition to the loaded pistol which McCagg possessed, Port Jervis Police said they also recovered a 3-D printer that McCagg was apparently using to create operable firearms similar to the one he was possessing on Front Street.
In the press release announcing the plea agreement, Hoovler said these home-made guns, which bear no serial numbers, are commonly referred to as ghost guns and are increasingly found during the course of narcotics investigations. The lower part of the pistols can be created out of nylon and plastics using the 3-D printer.
“Those creating the illegal ghost guns add other gun components including barrels and trigger assemblies which are purchased separately,” Hoovler said in the press release. “When combined these create fully functional pistols.”
The printer and gun components were recovered during the execution of a search warrant at McCagg’s residence by the Port Jervis Police, who were aided by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office Special Operations Group and Town of Deerpark Police Department.
“Time and again where we find the sale of narcotics we find dangerous and illegally possessed guns,” Hoovler added. “Make no mistake about it, the untraceable guns recovered in this case are the tools of drug dealers and violent actors.”