Trial date set for weapons case

A trial date has been set for a Lethbridge man who was charged with more than two dozen criminal offences after police discovered a weapons cache in a northside home last spring.

Patrick Harvey Rossetti, who previously pleaded not guilty to 28 weapon-related charges, is set to stand trial Jan. 26 of next year.

Rossetti was released from custody April 21 on $10,000 bail and conditions he not possess any firearms or explosives. He is charged with one count each of uttering death threats and using an imitation firearm while committing an indictable offence; four counts of contravening a section of the Firearms Act regulating the storage and handling of firearms and restricted weapons; four counts of unauthorized possession of a firearm; 15 counts of unauthorized possession of a prohibited or restricted weapon; and three counts of drug possession.

The charges stem from an incident last April in which police seized more than 100 items from a residence in the 200 block of 15 Street North, including an assortment of historical military weapons dating back to the First World War. Police turned up a First World War-era Vickers machine gun and a Second World War-era .50-calibre M-2 Browning machine gun, as well as rifles, handguns, ammunition and gas masks.

Police also seized a variety of prohibited weapons, including switchblades, butterfly knives, a crossbow, a Walther pistol, a Steyr AUG and over-capacity magazines, after officers initially responded to a disturbance at the residence the previous evening.