Salem State student facing gun charges
SALEM — A 22-year-old Salem State University senior has been charged with having a .45-caliber handgun and approximately 100 rounds of ammunition, as well as drugs, in his dorm room.
It was the second brush with the law in as many weeks for Gabe Bergeron, who described himself in court as a fifth-year senior from Edgartown, on Martha's Vineyard.
Bergeron turned himself in at Salem District Court Monday after learning that Salem State campus police had obtained a warrant charging him with carrying a dangerous weapon on school grounds and possession of prescription drugs.
Bergeron pleaded not guilty to those charges, and his attorney, Paul Moraski, argued that his client's license to carry gave him the right to have the weapon, a .45-caliber Ruger. Moraski said Bergeron had taken the gun with him to his mother's home in Maine for Thanksgiving, then returned to campus and could not make it back to Martha's Vineyard to drop it off there.
But prosecutor Peter Brostowin said police received information that Bergeron had been showing a fellow student how to alter the barrel of the weapon in order to hinder the ability of law enforcement to determine whether bullets fired from it could be linked to the gun.
And, said the prosecutor, Bergeron had taken advantage of Cyber Monday online shopping deals to purchase a gun sight for the weapon.
Brostowin argued that Bergeron should be put into custody both on a revocation of his release in an earlier case and high cash bail on the gun charges, "given the world we live in and the circumstances of the offense."
"One hundred bullets, in today's day and age, speaks volumes," the prosecutor said.
In addition to the gun, two loaded clips, ammunition and a knife, police found 12 ounces of marijuana and 9 1/2 Focalin pills, a stimulant.
Brostowin also pointed to the earlier case, in which Bergeron was arrested early on the morning of Nov. 29 after he and another student smashed a window at the Bates dormitory complex and attempted to get back into their dorm room after locking themselves out.
When police arrived, they found blood on the glass as well as on Bergeron, and other students peering out the windows, some of them huddled together in dorm rooms, bracing their doors closed, in fear that someone was about to enter.
Moraski called that earlier incident "a bad night," saying that the pair were simply locked out and afraid to ask for help because the co-defendant "was out of his mind" under the influence of drugs. Moraski also suggested that the tip to police about the handgun came from the other student, in the midst of school disciplinary proceedings.
Judge Carol Ann Fraser granted Brostowin's request to revoke Bergeron's release in the broken window case for 60 days. At that point, Moraski asked for a chance to discuss a guilty plea with his client.
Bergeron was taken into custody in the courtroom. About an hour later, Moraski and Bergeron returned with paperwork indicating that he wanted to admit to breaking the windows.
Fraser agreed to continue that case without a finding for a year, with conditions that Bergeron stay away from campus, not use any drugs or alcohol, including medical marijuana, and that he pay restitution.
Brostowin had urged a guilty finding in the case.
Moraski argued that sending his client to jail "would destroy his life."
After that case was resolved, the only thing left keeping Bergeron in custody was $2,500 bail on the gun case, which his father was prepared to post on Monday afternoon.
Salem State spokeswoman Nicole Giambusso said Bergeron has been banned from campus.
A status hearing in the gun case is scheduled for Feb. 5.
SALEM — A 22-year-old Salem State University senior has been charged with having a .45-caliber handgun and approximately 100 rounds of ammunition, as well as drugs, in his dorm room.
It was the second brush with the law in as many weeks for Gabe Bergeron, who described himself in court as a fifth-year senior from Edgartown, on Martha's Vineyard.
Bergeron turned himself in at Salem District Court Monday after learning that Salem State campus police had obtained a warrant charging him with carrying a dangerous weapon on school grounds and possession of prescription drugs.
Bergeron pleaded not guilty to those charges, and his attorney, Paul Moraski, argued that his client's license to carry gave him the right to have the weapon, a .45-caliber Ruger. Moraski said Bergeron had taken the gun with him to his mother's home in Maine for Thanksgiving, then returned to campus and could not make it back to Martha's Vineyard to drop it off there.
But prosecutor Peter Brostowin said police received information that Bergeron had been showing a fellow student how to alter the barrel of the weapon in order to hinder the ability of law enforcement to determine whether bullets fired from it could be linked to the gun.
And, said the prosecutor, Bergeron had taken advantage of Cyber Monday online shopping deals to purchase a gun sight for the weapon.
Brostowin argued that Bergeron should be put into custody both on a revocation of his release in an earlier case and high cash bail on the gun charges, "given the world we live in and the circumstances of the offense."
"One hundred bullets, in today's day and age, speaks volumes," the prosecutor said.
In addition to the gun, two loaded clips, ammunition and a knife, police found 12 ounces of marijuana and 9 1/2 Focalin pills, a stimulant.
Brostowin also pointed to the earlier case, in which Bergeron was arrested early on the morning of Nov. 29 after he and another student smashed a window at the Bates dormitory complex and attempted to get back into their dorm room after locking themselves out.
When police arrived, they found blood on the glass as well as on Bergeron, and other students peering out the windows, some of them huddled together in dorm rooms, bracing their doors closed, in fear that someone was about to enter.
Moraski called that earlier incident "a bad night," saying that the pair were simply locked out and afraid to ask for help because the co-defendant "was out of his mind" under the influence of drugs. Moraski also suggested that the tip to police about the handgun came from the other student, in the midst of school disciplinary proceedings.
Judge Carol Ann Fraser granted Brostowin's request to revoke Bergeron's release in the broken window case for 60 days. At that point, Moraski asked for a chance to discuss a guilty plea with his client.
Bergeron was taken into custody in the courtroom. About an hour later, Moraski and Bergeron returned with paperwork indicating that he wanted to admit to breaking the windows.
Fraser agreed to continue that case without a finding for a year, with conditions that Bergeron stay away from campus, not use any drugs or alcohol, including medical marijuana, and that he pay restitution.
Brostowin had urged a guilty finding in the case.
Moraski argued that sending his client to jail "would destroy his life."
After that case was resolved, the only thing left keeping Bergeron in custody was $2,500 bail on the gun case, which his father was prepared to post on Monday afternoon.
Salem State spokeswoman Nicole Giambusso said Bergeron has been banned from campus.
A status hearing in the gun case is scheduled for Feb. 5.
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