PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — A Presque Isle man allegedly in possession of a stolen gun was arrested Monday morning after the vehicle he was riding in was stopped for speeding.
Robert D. Belmain, 45, initially was arrested on an outstanding warrant for failing to appear in court. He then was charged with possession of a firearm by a felon, theft by receiving stolen property, carrying a concealed weapon, and unlawful possession of hydrocodone.
Belmain was a passenger in a 1998 sedan driven by 23-year-old Stephanie Larsen. K-9 Officer Kevin Reed of the Presque Isle Police Department said he observed Larsen, who was driving north on Parsons Street, doing 46 mph in a 25 mph zone. Larsen said she was giving Belmain a ride to the store.
After collecting Larsen’s information, Reed asked Belmain for identification. Belmain said he didn’t have any but gave Reed his name. Reed then had dispatch check the name and was advised that Belmain had an active warrant for his arrest.
Reed also deployed K-9 Dozer and searched the car, finding a hydrocodone pill on the passenger seat and a black Hi-Point semi-automatic pistol under the seat, according to the police report. Reed removed the gun and its magazine and cleared the firearm.
“The magazine was full and the chamber was empty,” said Reed.
As the officer was leaving the parking lot with Belmain seated beside him, according to Reed, Belmain overheard Officer Brian McQuarrie on the radio checking the pistol’s serial number to see if it was stolen.
“Robert spontaneously stated that the gun was stolen from Ashland,” said Reed, who then called the Ashland Police Department and learned there was no record of the stolen firearm matching the description or serial number of the .40-caliber weapon. “While in the booking room, without prompting or question, Robert stated that he doubted the gun had even been reported as stolen yet,” Reed said.
The Ashland and Presque Isle police departments are working to locate the owner of the gun.
Because Belmain was on bail for a motor vehicle offense, he also was charged with violation of conditions of release and transported to the Aroostook County Jail for processing.
Police are asking County residents to ensure that their firearms are secure and accounted for. Persons with any information concerning the stolen and unreported black .40 caliber Hi-Point handgun should contact the Presque Isle Police Department at 764-4476 or the Ashland Police Department at 435-6626.
A great start to gun control would be a law that states, ” If your weapon in not on your person, it should be locked in an approved container”. No keys, combination only, maybe? Just locked behind your home entrance doors is not enough any longer.
Check the laws again, they are suppose to be already, or trigger locks on your gun, that really helps to protect your home wait I have to take of the trigger lock, if they already broke into my home and steal my guns they committed a crime breaking into my home, But now if they use my stolen gun in a crime I can be charged also, and that is BS, Can you wait please while I take of my trigger lock while you rob my house Thank You!
Can’t manage the logistics? Don’t own guns. The woman in CT had 6 firearms and one of them was used to kill her. How smart was she? Not a responsible gun owner.
If someone steals your gun, you go to jail too, IMHO.
And if you’re too stupid to realize that your gun is missing (“oops, I lost one of my guns.”) then maybe you shouldn’t have any?
That really depend on how often you use it, and where you keep it, in a spare bedroom in the closet you go in 1 time a year, however if they break in your home you should know it and check, I had two guns stolen in TN, and I noticed the break in right away, ya know like hey where is the TV?
If your guns were stolen, you were not a responsible gun owner.
Maybe it was stolen from a felon.
Exactly . . .
Well, you are an anti-gun nut. : )
Yes, and we want people who call others names on comment pages to have guns. . . Yeah . . . right.
Actually 8,500 gunshot deaths in the US yearly causes me to be a thinking person who is “anti-killing” rather than a knee-jerk reactionary.
Oh. . . and I’m a combat veteran who hates guns but I’m a nut? . . . and you love them and you’re not a nut?
LO-f’n-L
You shouldn’t be so thin skinned.
Blaming everybody, but the criminal is a bit nutty. My apologies.
To make the focus of this story about police recovering a stolen gun that was just “floating about on the streets with no real owner” is in poor taste and timing by the editors of the newspaper in my opinion. Not only does this type of reporting add fuel to the fire of the recent political debates on gun control, it also tugs at the emotions of the people mourning. I believe that Police recovering a firearm off the streets is newsworthy and probably deserves a few sentences, heck even a paragraph.. but not half a dozen paragraphs in a story that would normally only be three paragraphs long.
See….criminals have guns! Why should law abiding citizens be disarmed?