3 men face weapons, drug charges after police witness rifle transfer in Jericho
Nassau police charged three men with multiple counts of weapons and drug possession Friday in Jericho. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams, Jr.
Three men have been arrested in Jericho and charged with weapons and drug offenses after they were observed loading rifles into their cars, according to Nassau police.
One of the men is living in the country illegally, according to police, and has been handed over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Officers from Nassau County’s Criminal Intelligence Rapid Response Team were on patrol on Friday when they saw the three men removing rifles from a crate in one of the cars and transferring them to other cars, according to a police news release.
The officers arrested Gilberto Rivera Lopez, 45, and Manuel Gutierrez Pineda, 33, both of New Cassel, and Rudi Rivera Lopez, 30, of Central Islip, "without incident," according to the release. The department said officers found suspected cocaine, a forged Social Security card, several knives, three machetes and thousands of rounds of ammunition, police said.
The men pleaded not guilty in District Court in Hempstead on Saturday to charges of criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal possession of a forged instrument, among other charges, according to court records.
No defense attorney was listed for the three defendants in state court documents.
ICE took custody of Gutierrez Pineda.
District Judge Maxine Sonya Broderick released the other two men without bail.
Newsday's Janon Fisher contributed to this story.
What local police departments do to combat the problem Suffolk created a street takeover task force in 2024 that has broken up more than 100 incidents in the county.
What local police departments do to combat the problem Suffolk created a street takeover task force in 2024 that has broken up more than 100 incidents in the county.
