Roosevelt parolee arrested on weapons charges

Officers conducting a parole check on a Roosevelt man arrested him Monday after finding an unloaded .25-caliber handgun in his room.

Nassau County police said state parole officers arrested Marcus Wheeler, 25, at 7:15 a.m. at his home on Elmwood Avenue. Police said the serial number had been removed from the semiautomatic Raven Arms pistol found at the home.

Wheeler was charged with criminal possession of a firearm and two counts of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, police said. He was arraigned Tuesday in First District Court in Hempstead and held pending $750,000 bail. He was represented by Legal Aid, which does not comment on cases.

Authorities could not immediately say why Wheeler was on parole -- and records were not immediately available.

With Ellen Yan

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”