This was in today's New Haven Register

http://www.ctcentral.com/cgi-bin/w3com/start?ctcentral+FrontPage

Thurs., April 22, 1999

Trumbull gun heist try collapses; 3 charged as safe of weapons breaks getaway van's axle

Joseph Straw

TRUMBULL - Three accused burglars managed to lug a safe full of guns - at least 450 pounds - from a Sunnycrest Road
home Tuesday to their getaway van, but that's when the heist literally collapsed under its own weight, police said. 

The suspects made it less than a block from the house before the weight of the safe and the 48 guns it contained
snapped the van's front axle, bringing their getaway to an abrupt halt, police said. 

A neighbor phoned police just after 2:30 p.m. Tuesday to report witnessing what she thought was a motor vehicle
accident, and that she saw the van's three occupants flee into a nearby wooded area, police said. 

Eddie Medina, 20, of Bridgeport, was arrested less than an hour later after he phoned police from a Cambridge Drive
business, claiming that his van had been stolen at gunpoint. 

Dino Della of 5 Oak Glen Drive in Shelton and Andrew Mason of Bridgeport, both 18, were apprehended moments later near
Old Town Road, police said. 

Mason is the son of a Bridgeport police officer, Medina the son of a Bridgeport firefighter, their defense attorneys
said at their arraignments Wednesday afternoon. 

Investigators opened the safe late Tuesday and found 30 pistols, seven assault rifles and eleven other guns, said Sgt.
Richard Bernaud, a department spokesman. 

Police are uncertain as to whether the suspects knew the guns were in the home when they forced their way in, Bernaud
said. Police did not comment on why the safe contained so many guns. 

Jeff Smith, an employee of the K-5 Arm Exchange in Stratford, estimated the weight of the full 2-foot-by-5-foot gun
safe at anywhere from 450 to 850 pounds. Smith said that his store warns customers to secure even the heaviest safes. 

"We tell people they have to bolt them down. Where there's a will, there's a way," Smith said. 

All three suspects were held in lieu of $50,000 bail following their arrests, each on charges of third-degree burglary,
first-degree larceny, 48 counts of firearm theft, and seven counts of possession of an assault weapon. Medina was
additionally charged with falsely reporting an incident. 

But after hearing the charges, Superior Court Judge John Turner doubled the bail for each suspect. 

Turner rebuffed a request by Mason's lawyer, Christine Brown of Trumbull, for alternative incarceration for her client. 

"Because of the number of counts for the firearms, the court is going to set a significant bond. I'm going to set a
bond, even though you don't have a criminal record, of $100,000," Turner told Martin, later matching the amount for
Della and Medina. 

Brown said that Mason is unemployed and is not enrolled in school, but did not explain the circumstances under which he
left school. 

Turner ordered the three suspects to return to court May 7, when a judge will consider transferring the case to the
court's serious crimes docket.