Anti-drug activist sought to save teen

JERSEY CITY, N.J. — A Pennsylvania man arrested last year outside New York with a vehicle full of weapons on a self-described mission to rescue a teenager from a drug den pleaded guilty Monday to weapons charges, but said he would continue his battle against the scourge of drug addiction.

John Cramsey, of East Greenville, and two associates were arrested on the New Jersey side of the Holland Tunnel in June 2016. He told authorities they were going to rescue the girl. She died months later of an overdose.

Acquaintances said the gun range owner became an anti-drug crusader after his daughter died of an overdose last year. Cramsey posted online shortly before his arrest he was heading from Pennsylvania to New York to “rescue” a girl whose friend had overdosed.

Police recovered a semi-automatic, military-style rifle, a shotgun, five handguns and tactical gear.

Asked after Monday’s hearing if he would do what he did again, Cramsey, 52, said he would but would be more careful.

“I would have carried her out if I’d had the chance,” he said. “I still would to this day. If I’d had to leave my truck there and run to get that girl, I would have.”

Cramsey pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a gun and possession for an unlawful purpose. Each count carries a maximum sentence of five years with no parole for a year, but under Cramsey’s plea deal he can apply for a probationary sentence that wouldn’t include prison.

Dean Smith, of Whitehall, Penn., and Kimberly Arendt, of Lehighton, Penn., were accepted this year into a pretrial intervention program. If completed, the probationary program can lead to charges being dropped. Cramsey was denied entry into the program.

Smith was driving Cramsey’s neon-painted truck when the group was stopped. According to police, the vehicle was pulled over because it had a crack in its windshield.

The defendants contended they were actually stopped because of the truck’s Second Amendmentthemed decorations, and they sought unsuccessfully in court to have the search invalidated.