MA - Alleged gxxx member held

OFF THE WIRE
ATTLEBORO - A reputed motorcycle gang member was ordered held in jail without bail under the state's dangerousness law Wednesday after a judge heard he had a drug problem, lied to police about having a gun in his car and hid two assault rifles under his bed at home.

Kevin J. Jacobs, 30, a purported member of the Devil's Disciples motorcycle gang, was arrested last Friday by North Attleboro police after they were tipped off by a Randolph police officer, who is the cousin of Jacobs' estranged wife, according to testimony in Attleboro District Court.

North Attleboro Patrolman Ryan Mooney testified Jacobs told him he had no weapons on him or in his car after he was stopped, but then told Detective Sgt. Christopher Ciccio a gun he had for his own protection was under the front passenger seat.

Police seized a semi-automatic .45-caliber handgun and a knife from the car and Foxboro police later confiscated two assault rifles from under Jacobs' bed at his home at 30 Lakeview Road, in Foxboro, where he lives with his mother, North Attleboro Detective Michael Elliott testified.



Elliott said police were told that Jacobs might be driving in North Attleboro with a gun in his car and might be in trouble with the Hell's Angels gang for allegedly assaulting a member of the gang in New Hampshire. Elliott said police learned Jacobs' marriage with his wife had become strained and that she obtained a restraining order against him last Friday.

Under cross-examination by Jacobs' lawyer, Brian Carney of Attleboro, Elliott testified he did not know that the .45-caliber handgun police seized from Jacobs' car was a birthday present from his wife while they lived in New Hampshire.

During arguments, Assistant District Attorney Derek Coyne said Jacobs should be held as a danger because of the weapons police seized from him, his drug addiction, previous record of violence and because his estranged wife feels threatened by him.

"Those look like serious weapons that can do serious damage," Coyne said of photographs of the guns he presented to Judge Angel Kelley Brown.

Although the prosecution depicted Jacobs as a danger, Carney referred to testimony from his mother, Carol Hammond, who said her son was a good father to his children and worked his entire adult life as a mechanic before being laid off about six weeks ago.

Carney said his client was licensed in New Hampshire to carry weapons and that the assault charges from arrests in 1999 and 2005 were dismissed. He said his client had no arrests in any other state. Rather than being a threat, Carney argued his client needed help for his drug problem and that prosecutors lacked evidence that his client threatened anyone with physical force, which they needed to meet the high standard of proof to hold a defendant in jail without bail as a dangerous person.

Jacobs is due back in court Oct. 7 for a probable cause hearing.

He faces charges of possession of a dangerous weapon, a knife; possession of a Class A substance believed to be heroin; and possession of a large capacity weapon, a semi-automatic .45-caliber handgun.

http://www.thesunchronicle.com/articles/2011/09/15/news/10181590.txt