Reckless driving charge in encounter Guilty plea to ‘ghost gun’ charge

BETHLEHEM — A man with an American flag and a Trump flag attached to the bed of his pick-up truck was arrested Thursday on a reckless driving charge Thursday after police said they receied a video that shows him confronting Black Lives Matters supporters on

Delaware Avenue before driving off and nearly crashing into another vehicle.

Robert C. Sweet, 53, of Altamont, was released from custody after his arrest and must appear in Town Court on Nov. 24.

Town police said the confrontation took place at 5:12 p.m. Tuesday — Election Day — near the intersection of Delaware and Elsmere avenues. A witness recorded the incident and shared it with police. On the video, police said a man with the flags adorning his truck stops at the intersection and argues with the BLM supporters.

Police said the man apparently realized officers had been called and left "the scene in a reckless manner almost striking another vehicle."

The truck was gone by the time officers got to there but police said their investigation led them to Sweet and the charge they filed against him.

ALBANY – A Fultonville man who built illegal “ghost guns” and sold them to an undercover federal agent pleaded guilty Thursday to a firearm charge in federal court.

Michael Castelluccio,

42, admitted he built the guns, which are difficult for law enforcement to trace because they do not have serial numbers, between August and October of last year. He pleaded guilty to unlawfully transferring a short-barreled rifle – barrels less than 16 inches -- that had machine gun capacity.

An agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Fire

arms and Explosives said in a sworn affidavit that while acting undercover, he purchased five shortbarreled rifles from Castelluccio and a man, also later charged named Christopher Montano, at Castelluccio’s home on Route 30A on Sept. 12, 2019, according to a criminal complaint.

Castelluccio admitted he built the short-barreled rifles without having filed an application or approval from the federal government, or paying taxes on it. He admitted one gun he sold was modified to allow it to “automatically shoot more than one shot by a single function of its trigger,” prosecutors said in a news release.

Sentencing is April 1. Montano’s case is ongoing.