Prosecutor Says "Plumber Ray" Rzeplinski "Took A Risk" With Large Gun Collection

  • Tuesday, July 30, 2024

A prosecutor told a Criminal Court jury on Tuesday that "Plumber Ray" Rzeplinski "took a risk" amassing a large gun collection and in fighting officers while having a past felony conviction.

Nicole Evans said the defendant fired a gun and was yelling at his home on Crabtree Road on Aug. 16, 2019. She said ultimately a SWAT Team had to be called in and Rzeplinski fought officers as they tried to take him to the ground. He was found not to be armed.

Attorney Ben McGowan said Rzeplinski had to spend four days in the Intensive Care Unit after the encounter with the SWAT Team.

He said Rzeplinski for some time had openly carried a gun in a holster on his waist after getting a carry permit, and he had passed numerous other background checks over the years.

He said the defendant did not consider an incident when he was 19 years old as something that disqualified him from owning weapons.

The attorney said Rzeplinski and several other "knuckleheads" broke out a window on a closed Cleveland grocery store and stole some cigarettes in 1998. He later pleaded guilty.

Attorney McGowan said the defendant was now facing 54 indictments "because the government screwed up almost 30 years ago."

He said Rzeplinski was extremely agitated the day the Swat Team was called because he believed someone had been embezzling money from his successful plumbing business. He said Rzeplinski had called the Sheriff's Office and detective Jason Maucere was assigned to the case.

He said the detective asked Rzeplinski to bring documents to his office on Aug. 16, 2019. He said when the plumber went to the Sheriff's Office he was told that the detective was not in. The attorney said that made Rzeplinski "very, very upset and agitated."

Attorney McGowan said detective Maucere did some background checks and discovered the old arrest in Bradley County.

Prosecutor Evans said investigators found over 50 guns inside the Rzeplinski house after getting a search warrant, then a second warrant to check out two gun safes.

Rzeplinski is charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm, reckless endangerment, resisting arrest, possession of a prohibited weapon, and possession of a firearm with a conviction of a prior violent felony.

The trial is in the courtroom of Criminal Court Judge Amanda Dunn.

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