CRIME WATCH

Officials: Bellmorite posed as fed to buy gun

Posted

A Bellmore man posed as a federal agent in order to buy a handgun in an upstate town, New York State Police said last Friday.

State authorities in Montgomery, working with Long Island law enforcement officials, the FBI and the Orange County
 district attorney’s office, arrested Richard J. DeRosa, 41, on May 21 and charged him with criminal possession of a firearm and first-degree criminal impersonation.

Using a fake New York state pistol permit, police said, DeRosa purchased a Smith & Wesson 340 PD .357 revolver in the parking lot of a McDonald’s on Route 208 in the Town of Montgomery. Officials said in a news release that he had contacted the seller of the gun online.


DeRosa told the seller that he was a special agent for the federal government and had a valid pistol permit in New York, according to the release. Police determined that he was not an agent and that he did not have a permit for the gun.

Law enforcement officials searched DeRosa’s Bellmore home, where they said “several items of evidence were recovered.” Police said they began their “lengthy investigation” of DeRosa last November.

He was arraigned in the Town of Montgomery Court and remanded to Orange County Jail. Police said he was released on $10,000 cash bail, and was scheduled to return to court on June 4.

An attorney for DeRosa could not be reached for comment.