Milton man charged with stealing handgun at Union County party

Mar. 8—LEWISBURG — A Milton man allegedly stole a handgun at a party in East Buffalo Township and filed off the serial number, according to state police at Milton.

Alec Jacob Anderson, 26, of Mahoning Street, Milton, was charged with two felony counts of theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property. The charges were filed by state Trooper Gideon Green, of the Milton State Police Barracks, in the Lewisburg office of District Judge Jeffrey Rowe.

Green reported the investigation stemmed from a search warrant conducted on Aug. 2 at an apartment on High Street in White Deer Township for an unrelated incident. Anderson lived at the apartment at the time, police said.

During the search, police said a black Taurus G2C 9mm semi-automatic pistol with an obliterated serial number was found inside a bedroom closet, hidden in a plumbing utility access panel on the wall. The handgun was found underneath the downstairs bathtub on the gravel fill under the concrete slab, police said.

The gun was inside a black holster, fully loaded with eight hollow point rounds and a black magazine. While the area where the firearm was found was damp and moldy, the holster was dry and had the beginning stages of mold on a small portion of it, police said.

Upon recovering the serial number through the state police crime lab, there were no reports of the firearm being stolen, lost or missing. The owner told police he gave the gun to a friend to keep safe for him with the expectation that he would get it back, police said.

The friend told police the gun was allegedly stolen by Anderson during a party at a residence on West Market Street in Lewisburg between 7 p.m. June 1 and 7 p.m. June 10. The friend said he did not report the gun stolen because he had a falling out with the owner of the gun, police said.

Two witnesses corroborated the story, saying they observed Anderson allegedly take the gun. One of the witnesses said Anderson allegedly wanted to remove the serial number, police said.

Anderson has yet to be arraigned on the charges. The case is listed as inactive on the criminal docket system.