A man who told police he had owned a handgun for more than a year turned out to have pieces of two different firearms that were reported stolen, according to a Polk County Police report from the overnight hours of Sunday morning.
Justin Michael Hotchkiss, 21, of 177 Fawn Circle, Carrollton, was jailed on two counts of theft by receiving stolen property following the discovery of the gun reported by Hotchkiss during a traffic stop.
Police reported they stopped a maroon 1994 BMW 325i on Lane Street in Rockmart just after 1:30 a.m. on Sunday, being driven by a friend of Hotchkiss who owns the car, for a faulty tail light. The driver and Hotchkiss both handed over the drivers licenses, and police ran the information without any issue.
The reporting officer stated that he then believed he smelled marijuana, and asked both men to step out of the car. Hotchkiss reported to police they had smoked around an hour before, and that he had a handgun under the passenger seat. Officers had both of them stay on the hood of his car while backup arrived and a search was undertaken and the handgun – a 9mm Glock with a round chambered – was located where Hotchkiss told police it was.
Nothing else was found in the car.
However, police ran one of the serial numbers located on the lower frame through a statewide database and found that it was stolen. Hotchkiss, who had traded a 1993 BMW for the Glock, told police that it had been purchased from his cousin in trade for the car via another man from Gwinnett County, where the stolen report had come from.
He also added that an officer had previously stopped him and looked up the firearm a month prior with nothing having come back stolen. He also said he ran the handgun through an NRA database and nothing was reported on it either. He has owned the handgun for a year, he told police.
Police found a second serial number on the pistol, and ran it as well and found it was stolen.
The reporting officer stated that police believe the handgun sold to Hotchkiss was a combination of two stolen pistols, which explained the different serial numbers on one Glock pistol.
Hotchkiss told police he was unaware the pistol – or any parts of it – had been stolen. One of the pistols came from a Lawrenceville Police Department report, while another was taken in the Roswell area according to their city department’s report. Both came up during a search for the serial numbers in the statewide reporting system.
He was taken into custody by Polk County Police and his friend was allowed to drive the BMW back to Carrollton. Hotchkiss was charged with two felony counts of theft by receiving stolen property and remained in the Polk County Jail as of this posting with no bond set.
