Chief decries bail in gun case
Says teen, dad should be in jail; DA requested higher amounts
The Saugerties police chief was highly critical Thursday of a judge’s decision to set bail at only $10,000 for a high school student who allegedly stockpiled weapons in his village home, praised the Columbine High School killers on social media and posted online that he was “full of rage.”
The Ulster County district attorney, meanwhile, said his office recommended the bail be five times higher than what ultimately was set for Connor Chargois, 18.
Chargois was released on bail not long after his arrest Tuesday for the felony of criminal posses-
sion of a weapon. And his father, Bruce Chargois, 58, was released with a court appearance ticket after being arraigned for the same crime, as well as the misdemeanor of obstructing governmental administration.
The judge, Saugerties Village Justice Robert Rightmyer, also issued an order of protection against Connor on behalf of the Saugerties school district.
“If it was up to me, I would have thrown [both of them] in jail without bail,” Saugerties Police Chief Joseph Sinagra said Thursday.
“I understand bail reform — you have to have reasonable bail — but we’re talking about community safety,” he said. “I don’t know if there’s any bail that would be too high . ...
“It’s difficult for me to tell my community that it’s safe when these two individuals are out on the streets, because they don’t feel safe,” the chief said.
Sinagra said Rightmyer could have imposed higher bail amount or electronic monitoring.
“This is heinous enough
that it calls for such measures,” he said, adding that having the Chargoises on the street makes his job “twice as difficult” because police now have to keep tabs on them while keeping schools and the community safe.
Sinagra said he fielded multiple calls Thursday from Saugerties school district parents who were concerned about their children’s safety in the wake of the arrests. Many of the them asked why the Chargoises were not behind bars, the chief said.
Rightmyer could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Ulster County District Attorney Holley Carnright said his office recommended Rightmyer set bail at $50,000 for the teen and $25,000 for the father.
Carnright declined to comment on Rightmyer’s decision, though he noted that, under state law, judges are not required to consider community safety as a factor when setting bail.
“I think they should be,” he said.
The prosecutor said proposed state bail reform legislation would, for the first time, allow judges to consider including community safety when determining bail.
Carnright said he expects
to present the Saugerties case to an Ulster County grand jury soon.
The police chief said neither of the Chargoises was involved in any known criminal activity in Saugerties prior to Tuesday’s arrests.
Connor and Bruce Chargois, both of 5 Sawyerkill Terrace in the village of Saugerties, were arrested after an investigation that was prompted by Connor’s statements on social media and after an arsenal of firearms was found hidden at the father’s business and homemade guns were found inside the house, police said on Wednesday.
Sinagra said possible additional charges of illegally manufacturing weapons and possession of a fully automatic weapon could be added, depending on firearms testing. He said state police and the federal bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms will continue to work with Saugerties police on the case.
Among the tests, he said, will be ones to determine whether parts being manufactured were intended to make an AR-15 fully automatic.
Sinagra said his department requested and received support from state police
and the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office and increased patrols Thursday at Saugerties schools and at the Woodstock Day School, a private school on Glasco Turnpike.
Police were stationed at Saugerties Junior-Senior High School throughout the day Thursday, and a lockdown drill was held in the morning. Also, high school Principal Thomas Averill addressed students during their lunch periods.
“It was an instructional [lockdown], where they went, step by step, through it just to reinforce them to students and [have] teachers go over all the instructions,” said Saugerties school district Deputy Superintendent Lawrence Mautone. “We have to do at least four a year, but Averill felt it was appropriate and a great time to just do one .... ”
Police have said their investigation began on Feb. 21, when Saugerties High School officials alerted them to social media postings that praised Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who killed 12 students, a teacher and themselves in April 1999 at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.
“I envy Eric and Dylan,” one post said, according to police. “It must’ve been so f— ing fun. They had the right f—
ing idea. I’m so full of rage . ... Nothing f—ing matters anymore.”
Police said another post stated: “I feel as though I’m not the type of person you’d want to call your friend, but I firmly believe that you do want to call me your enemy. Just remember: when the sh-t hits the fan, there won’t be any time for mercy.”
Police were alerted about the postings exactly a week after 17 people were killed in a mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., and the announcement of the Saugerties arrests came on the heels of Sinagra saying he favors teachers carrying guns in schools, provided they are properly licensed and trained.
Saugerties police said they traced the social media postings to Connor Chargois with the help of the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office and state police, and that the teen later admitted authoring the posts.
Both the teen and his father denied owning firearms and said there were none in the house, but those statements were not consistent with what the investigation had found, police have said.
Bruce Chargois later admitted there had been firearms in the home and that he removed them immediately after his first interview by investigators, police said. They said the father then took police to his business, Greco Brothers Amusement Co. on Glasco Turnpike in Saugerties, and showed them five hidden firearms. The weapons included “a fully automatic 9mm Uzi and an AR-15 assault rifle,” the Saugerties Police Department said in a press release.
Saugerties police and federal agents, armed with a warrant, then searched the Sawyerkill Terrace residence and found ammunition of varying calibers, homemade knives, machine-fabricated gun parts, a prototype of a firearm that Connor Chargois admitted he had been manufacturing, and a number of completed homemade firearms with both .22- and 9mm-caliber capacities, police said.
Sinagra said all the ammunition in the Chargoises’ possession was confiscated.
On Thursday, Sinagra said the only legal weapon in the Chargoises’ possession was a military-style Mosin Nagant 7.62554-caliber rifle owned by Bruce Chargois.
Staff writer Patricia R. Doxsey and correspondent William J. Kemble contributed to this report.