NEWARK — A Superior Court judge
this morning denied a request for the return of a gun collection to the
former security guard at Newark Liberty International Airport who last
year was charged with threatening to shoot President Obama, a charge
that was eventually dropped.
Judge Joseph Cassini noted that had the case happened before the Sept.
11, 2001, terror attacks, there would have likely been no police
involvement. "Unfortunately, we live in a very different time," the
judge said, before denying the return of the rifles, pistols and hunting
knives to John Brek. It was unclear under what legal grounds the judge
used in denying the request.
The judge did grant Brek's request to lift an order that prohibited Brek
from having contact with the president, his family or the White House
staff. The Essex County Prosecutor's Office had earlier agreed to grant
that request, which essentially allows Brek to visit the White House.
Brek, 55, of Linden, was arrested last October after two Continental
Airlines employees at Newark Airport alerted police to comments he made
at the airport lunch truck about cutting a hole in a fence so he could
shoot the president. Obama arrived aboard Air Force One the next day to
campaign for then-Gov. Jon Corzine.
Authorities searched Brek's home, where they found and confiscated 43
guns — all but one licensed — and hollow-point bullets. An avid hunter,
Brek said the collection is a family heirloom, which had belonged to his
grandfather and his father. Brek was originally charged with making
terroristic threats and possessing a stolen rifle and hollow-point
bullets. In November, he pleaded guilty to two lesser counts of
harassment, amounting to disorderly persons offenses.
Brek's attorney, Moses Rambarran, said the judge's ruling order to
dissolve the restraining order against visiting the White House but not
returning his weapons as inconsistent. "John Brek was not found guilty
of any of the original charges," he said after the hearing.
Brek, who was in court today, expressed his disappointment, calling the gun collection "a treasure, and a financial nest egg."