Glenn Terry never gave other explanation for kidnap ‘kit’

The detective investigating the attempted kidnapping of Suffolk Conservative Party chairman Frank Tinari rejected defense suggestions Friday that there was a benign reason for all the weapons in the defendant’s car.

Suffolk Det. Marybeth Connolly also clarified that Glenn Terry, 48, formerly of Holtsville, never told her he was doing anything other than planning a kidnapping.

Connolly testified at Terry’s trial on charges of second-degree attempted kidnapping and several weapons offenses.

Authorities say Terry had stewed for years about a $450,000 settlement that Tinari, his lawyer, had won for him in a civil suit after he fell into a bathtub of scalding water. Terry wanted much more than that and felt Tinari had sold him out, Connolly testified earlier before state Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho in Central Islip.

Connolly said Terry told her after his arrest that he had moved to Florida in March 2014 mainly so he could legally acquire weapons and returned after a year to Long Island in an unsuccessful bid to abduct Tinari, take him to his father’s basement in Holtsville and terrorize him.

But during cross-examination Friday, defense attorney Marc Gann of Mineola suggested there were other reasons for the move south.

“Didn’t Mr. Terry tell you he moved to Florida because he couldn’t afford to live in New York anymore and hoped to get landscaping work there?” Gann asked.

“No, he never said that,” Connolly said.

“Didn’t he tell you that he came back to Long Island because he couldn’t make it in Florida and all of his family was here?” Gann asked.

“No,” Connolly replied.

Connolly and other detectives described — and then showed to jurors — what appeared to be an extensive kidnapping tool kit in Terry’s car. Some of the items, particularly the weapons, appeared to be newly purchased, with their original boxes still in the car.

The items included a new Ruger 9-mm semiautomatic handgun, a box of 50 Winchester bullets, a new Taser X26Ca with six cartridges, a Zap stun gun, a new Rambo knife, an unused plastic gas can, a barbecue lighter and a cigarette lighter, a box of vinyl gloves, an electronic megaphone that also functioned as a siren, binoculars, a Jet Blue eye mask that could be used as a blindfold, double-sided tape, a black powder gun, two sets of handcuffs, a roll of duct tape and a can of pepper spray.

Gann, noting that his client had sold his Port Charlotte, Florida, house days before driving to Long Island with his dog, suggested to Connolly that the things in the car were there by happenstance after packing up all his belongings. But Connolly said that’s not why they were there, noting that Terry was quite clear what he was going to do with those things.

Detectives found an envelope with $5,000 in crisp $100 bills in the glove compartment.

Terry said the cash was in case he needed to post bail, according to Connolly. Terry is being held on bail of $5 million cash.

Also among the apparent kidnapping tools was a folder of letters Terry had written to and about Tinari, and a small religious statue.