FRANKLIN BOROUGH, N.J. (Sussex County) — A Sussex County man has been charged with multiple weapons offenses following an investigation into the alleged unlawful possession of firearms in Franklin Borough, police announced.
Austin Babcock, 29, of Hardyston, was arrested March 30 after police received information from a victim who alleged Babcock was in possession of a rifle and a handgun with a high-capacity magazine and had threatened to harm her.
According to police, the investigation, conducted with assistance from the Hardyston Police Department and the New Jersey State Police, determined Babcock allegedly possessed a rifle with defaced serial numbers, a semi-automatic handgun, hollow-point ammunition and high-capacity magazines in Franklin Borough and at a residence in Sussex Borough.
As a result of the investigation, Babcock was charged with second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose; second-degree certain persons not to possess firearms following a prior conviction; third-degree certain persons not to possess firearms; third-degree certain persons not to possess ammunition; fourth-degree defacement of weapons; fourth-degree possession of prohibited weapons involving hollow-point ammunition; and fourth-degree certain persons not to possess ammunition following a prior conviction.
Police said Babcock was issued a complaint-warrant, taken into custody by the Sussex County Sheriff’s Office and lodged in the Morris County Correctional Facility pending a court appearance in Sussex County Superior Court under New Jersey’s Criminal Justice Reform Act.
