Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey and Chief Raymond Geipel of the Milltown Police Department announced that a Middlesex County Sheriff’s Officer was charged today with two weapons offenses after an assault rifle and nine magazine clips were seized from his home.
Neil Raciti, 47, of Milltown was charged with possession of an assault weapon, a second degree offense, and one count of possession of a high-capacity magazine.
Bail was set at $25,000. He was released after posting 10 percent.
An investigation by the Milltown Police Department and the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office identified the weapon as an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. The nine magazine clips each were loaded with ammunition and could be used to load the rifle.
While the trigger mechanism on the weapon had been removed, Raciti was charged because he had failed to properly register the weapon with police, thus making ownership illegal.
Although possession of assault rifles is illegal in New Jersey, there was a period between May 30, 1990 and May 30, 1991 in which owners of such weapons could lawfully keep them if they registered the guns with police as target rifles or rendered the weapons inoperative.