Worcester Firefighter Faces Weapons Charges

WORCESTER (CBS) - A Worcester firefighter is facing dozens of charges. Police say he was stalking his estranged wife and had an arsenal of weapons.

In court Wednesday, a judge ordered Jonathan Peters held without bail until another hearing Friday. Peters, a former Marine, is facing 50 charges, including serious weapons violations, but his attorney says it's an overreaction.

It was at his Worcester home where police say they found six rifles, including military style assault models, four handguns, a shotgun, a sawed off shotgun and a dozen high capacity magazines along with ammunition.

The weapons were found after Peters' estranged wife called police Tuesday morning saying she feared for her safety, and that her husband had numerous guns.

"During this investigation we realized that this particular individual did not have a license to carry nor did he possess an FID card," said Worcester Police Sgt. Kerry Hazelhurst. "Based on other initial information during the investigation we were able to obtain a warrant."

Peters' attorney says the charges are excessive.

"There was no evidence presented at the initial hearing that he had ever intended or made threats to use any type of weaponry," said Peters' attorney Anthony Salerno.

He says the firefighter and his wife were both gun collectors. He is not surprised his client was denied bail.

"Whether you have it legally or illegally obviously given the recent tragedies there is going to be a heightened sensitivity to it," said Salerno.

The Deputy Chief of the Worcester Fire Department says Peters started in June, and since then has been a good firefighter. He is on unpaid leave pending the outcome of the investigation.