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Sentencing was scheduled for Donald Scott for July 26. Under his plea agreement, Superior Court Judge Patrick J. Roma is expected to sentence him to five years in prison — three of which must be served before he is eligible for parole.
The Bergen County Police SWAT team was called to Scott’s West Crescent Avenue house after the tenant said Scott pointed a gun at him during a dispute on the back patio last summer.
Authorities said Scott didn’t have a permit for the defaced Ruger .357 Magnum that they said turned up during a search of the house.
They also found several other guns, two sets of metal knuckles, hollow-nosed bullets and an explosive fireworks device with artillery-level power that didn’t have “an explainable lawful purpose,” according to an 11-count indictment returned against Scott by a Bergen County grand jury.
Scott, 57, has been held on $100,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail since his July 10 arrest.
Prosecutors said Scott initially rejected their offer of a five-year prison sentence but then changed his mind on the eve of what was to be his trial.
The charges against him include:
- pointing a firearm with “manifest indifference to human life”;
- several counts of firearms possession, including a separate charge for having a defaced firearm and another for “using it unlawfully against another person”;
- having an unregistered assault weapon with a large-capacity magazine;
- illegally possessing bronze and silver knuckles, as well as holow-nosed bullets;
- illegally possessing a Class 1.3G explosive device measuring 11-3/4” TBB-1601 artillery without an explainable lawful purpose.
STORY by Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter
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