Police investigator charged with defying judge’s no-guns order

Randy J. Weaver (Photo provided — New York State Police)
State police have arrested one of their own for allegedly getting someone to buy a gun for him after a judge ordered him not to possess firearms.
An ongoing investigation led police to arrest Randy J. Weaver, 36, of Indian Lake, on May 24. Weaver is an investigator with state police Troop B, which covers northern New York and is based in Ray Brook. Police said he violated an order of protection issued by Hamilton County Family Court, stemming from a domestic incident.
After the order was issued, police said, Weaver got David J. Stearns, 33, of Hagaman near Amsterdam, to buy the gun for him in the town of Mayfield. Weaver was off duty at the time, according to police.
Police also arrested Stearns and charged each man with the same crimes: second-degree criminal contempt, two counts of criminal purchase of a firearm and falsifying business documents. Each was arraigned at the Mayfield town court and released after posting $1,000 cash bail.
State police in Albany declined to say anything about current or potential discipline for Weaver. He himself could not immediately be reached for comment.
It’s not the first time in Weaver’s state police career he has been charged with a crime while off duty. On the night of New Year’s Day, 2013, a snowmobile he was riding became stuck in a snow-filled ditch along state Route 30 in the town of Indian Lake. Troopers got to the scene around 10 p.m. and thought Weaver appeared intoxicated, so they gave him field sobriety tests and subsequently charged him with snowmobiling under the influence of alcohol.
At the time, Weaver was a 31-year-old trooper assigned to the Indian Lake barracks. State police said at the time they had suspended him without pay, pending further investigation.
The Enterprise was unable to find out how that 2013 case was resolved. State police in Albany declined to say, and the Hamilton County clerk’s records office was not able to produce records of the case. Fulton County’s district attorney at the time, Louise Sira, handled the case as a special prosecutor because Hamilton County DA Marsha Purdue said she knew Weaver. Purdue said her office had no records of the case, and the Fulton County DA’s office said they had no records of the case, having sent them all back to Hamilton County. The Indian Lake town court may have records of it, but it is only open Tuesday and Thursday evenings. No one could be reached by phone there Tuesday evening.
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(Last updated 6:15 p.m.)