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NYC corrections officer suspended after police find guns, machete in car during traffic stop

A rookie officer assigned to Rikers Island was pulled over in Queens and found with a rifle, shotgun, ammo and a machete

Solitary Confinement NYC

FILE- Numbered doors of enhanced supervision housing unit, also commonly known as solitary confinement, are shown at the Rikers Island jail complex on March 12, 2015, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

Seth Wenig/AP

By Colin Mixson, Thomas Tracy
New York Daily News

NEW YORK — A New York City Department of Correction officer was arrested after an NYPD traffic stop in Queens led police to uncover an arsenal of guns and bladed weapons stashed in his car, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.

Jonathan Williams, 40, was found with an Anderson 5.56-mm. assault rifle complete with a detachable magazine, pistol grip and telescoping stock, in addition to a Remington 870 shotgun inside his white Honda during the traffic stop at 161st Place and Baisley Blvd. in South Jamaica shortly after 2 p.m. on Tuesday, prosecutors said.

Williams, who was pulled over after making an illegal left turn from a middle traffic lane, also had a gravity knife and three shotgun shells in his front driver’s-side door, a box containing 20 rounds of 5.56 ammo resting in his car’s center console and a machete, said prosecutors.

Williams pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of criminal possession of a weapon at his arraignment in Queens Criminal Court on Wednesday. He is being held on $7,500 bond and $2,500 cash bail.

The corrections officer was assigned to the Robert N. Davoren Complex located on Rikers Island, according to a DOC spokesman, who said he was hired about eight months ago.

He has been suspended without pay indefinitely, the spokesman said.

An attorney for Williams did not immediately respond to message left seeking comment.

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