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EXCLUSIVE: Authorities must do a more thorough search of a Washington Township home where a career criminal amassed more than 40 assault-type weapons, along with more ammunition than the local police department itself has. Although they wouldn’t say as much, there could be more guns, ammo and possibly other devices inside, a source close to the investigation told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
This involves obtaining another search warrant so investigators can go back in.
A SWAT team was in position last night in case things got tense. A dangerous situation was avoided, however, when 60-year-old Daniel Furesz, an unemployed auto mechanic and vocal NRA member, opened the door.
“Do you have any weapons in the house?” Furesz was asked.
“Maybe,” he said.
“No one could have anticipated the magnitude” of what his squad found, Lt. Jack Oppelt said.
Furesz had “more ammunition than the entire police department in Washington Township,” the lieutenant said at a hastily called news conference a short time ago, after CLIFFVIEW PILOT broke the story this morning and TV reporters began descending on the affluent suburban town.
Along with dozens of guns and thousands of rounds of ammo, Furesz also had knives, swords, crossbows, a gas mask and a Kevlar bullet-proof vest of “better quality that we have at the police department,” most of which were stashed in closets, Oppelt said. The Bergen County Bomb Squad was summoned after officers found what appeared to be gunpowder.
“I don’t know what his intention was,” a source close to the investigation told CLIFFVIEWPILOT.COM before the news conference. “But this could have had the potential for another Colombine, given his history.”
Records show the Westwood High School graduate — who has a history of lewdness convictions on his record — only recently made bail after two months in the Bergen County Jail following his arrest in Hasbrouck Heights at 8 a.m. on Sept. 11.
A Glen Rock resident who was driving south on Route 17 reported seeing Furesz masturbating in his 1993 Buick LeSabre near Franklin Avenue, reports show. A Rutherford police officer took him into custody, and Hasbrouck Heights police reportedly found a handgun in his car.
Over the past 15 years, Furesz has been arrested no fewer than 15 times, on charges includign lewdness, sexual assault, child endangerment and weapons possession. Federal and state laws prohibit felons from having guns of any type.
However, Furesz amassed his arsenal at gun shows in Virginia, a source close to the investigation told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. He stockpiled these, along with armor-piercing bullets, at a home willed to his sister by their mother, the source said.
He’s been charged in the past with making terrorists threats against his sister, who called police again this time.
The sister “was removing some unregistered vehicles on the property and she was afraid he would do something to her,” the source told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “It was a scary situation.”
A Municipal Court judge ordered Furesz held on $75,000 bond. It’s unclear whether he’s been able to post it.
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