Man charged after handgun found hidden in engine compartment following Warren County crash
WARREN COUNTY, N.J. — A Hellertown, Pa. man has been charged with multiple weapons offenses after a handgun was discovered hidden in his vehicle following a crash in Warren County, according to the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office.
On Sunday, May 25, at approximately 4:45 a.m., New Jersey State Police troopers from the Perryville Station responded to a single-vehicle crash off the roadway into the woods. The exact location of the crash was not released by authorities.
The driver, Vincent Noel, 60, was transported to St. Luke’s Anderson Campus for moderate but non-life-threatening injuries.
During a routine safety inspection of the engine compartment to mitigate the potential for fire, fire department personnel discovered a handgun concealed behind a front headlight. They alerted troopers, who confirmed the weapon belonged to the driver, Vincent Noel, whose vehicle was registered to him and occupied only by him at the time of the crash.
Noel was charged the same day on a complaint warrant with first-degree possession of a handgun without a permit, fourth-degree possession of hollow-nose or dum-dum bullets, second-degree certain persons not to possess weapons or ammunition, and fourth-degree certain persons not to possess weapons or ammunition.
On Monday, June 16, a judge granted the State’s motion for pretrial detention following a hearing. Noel is being held at the Warren County Correctional Center in Belvidere pending trial.
First-degree crimes in New Jersey carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in state prison, second-degree crimes up to 10 years, and fourth-degree crimes up to 18 months.
