By Kim Ring
Telegram & Gazette Staff
Posted Nov. 2, 2015 at 9:32 PM
Updated at 6:58 PM
EAST BROOKFIELD - A Holden man who allegedly had a loaded modified assault rifle in the back seat of his car during a traffic stop told Rutland police he built the gun from parts.
Sergei J. Dyer, 20, of 233 Shrewsbury St., Holden, was stopped Friday night by Rutland police Sgt. Nicholas A. Monaco, who was randomly checking license plates on Main Street in Rutland. Sgt. Monaco checked the license plate on a Toyota Solara that passed him.
Sgt. Monaco learned that the vehicle had not passed an inspection. He stopped the car and while speaking with Mr. Dyer, he wrote in his report, he used a flashlight to see into the vehicle and saw what appeared to be a AR-15 on the floor behind the driver's seat.
"I asked Dyer, 'What's this back here?' He responded with something to the effect of, 'It's what it looks like'," the police report states. The officer asked if the gun was loaded and Mr. Dyer allegedly replied that it was, later telling a second officer who arrived as backup that there was "a round in the chamber."
Police seized the loaded firearm, two 10-round magazines and a 12-pack of Bud Light beer from the car and arrested Mr. Dyer. A 19-year-old woman from Sterling who was in the car was not charged and was allowed to take the car after Mr. Dyer was arrested.
Mr. Dyer, who had a firearm identification card but not a license to carry firearms, was arraigned Monday in Western Worcester District Court in East Brookfield on charges of possession of a large-capacity weapon, possession of an assault weapon, leaving a loaded/unsecured large capacity weapon in a vehicle, being a minor in possession of alcohol, having no inspection sticker. He was released on personal recognizance.
Police inspected the AR-15 and found that it had no serial number and was not compliant with Massachusetts law because it had a detachable magazine, a telescoping stock, a pistol grip and a flash suppressor. At the police station, Sgt. Monaco successfully inserted a 30-round magazine from the Police Department into the firearm. In addition, the barrel was 12 inches long, which is less than the 16 inches required in Massachusetts for a gun to be considered a rifle. Police wrote that short-barreled rifles are "closely regulated by the ATF (federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives)."
Sgt. Monaco wrote that he planned to notify the ATF about the case because unregistered possession of such a firearm is a federal felony.
Mr. Dyer is due back in court Jan. 15.