Questions surround Franklin Twp. man's gun collection

Brian Hinkle, who reportedly kept a massive arsenal of guns and ammunition on his property before police staged a raid there this week, was back at his Gloucester County home yesterday morning.

Walking with his auburn-colored retriever around the trailers and piles of clutter that dot his land on Rosemont Avenue in Franklin Township, a subdued Hinkle said he did not want to talk. As a whirring helicopter passed overhead, the former Vineland, N.J., police officer cast his eyes skyward with suspicion.

"Maybe I'm going to get hit again," said Hinkle, shaking his head. "Unbelievable."

Until this week, Hinkle, 59, lived in relative anonymity. Neighbors saw him as a kindly recluse, and neither they nor his former employers have provided any clues as to why Hinkle may have amassed such a large cache of weapons.

On Monday, Hinkle was arrested on charges of aggravated assault after allegedly drawing a gun on two New Jersey state police troopers. The officers had been questioning Hinkle about his connection to a man who is wanted for burglary.

The arrest led to the officers' discovery of Hinkle's firearms, a stockpile that authorities have said is the largest they have seen in private hands.

Hinkle had everything from World War II-era firearms to rifles and modern handguns, police said. He also had a live grenade, gunpowder, and a canister of tear gas, they said.

By the time they finished searching Hinkle's property on Thursday, officers had seized 259 guns and nearly a half-million rounds of ammunition. Some of the weapons were stored in a homemade bunker Hinkle had fashioned out of an old septic tank.

Vineland lawyer Joe O'Neill, who is representing Hinkle, would not comment on the weapons. But he disputed the allegation that Hinkle threatened two officers.

Hinkle was a police officer for 13 years, O'Neill said, and understands better than the typical person how to act in situations involving law enforcement.

"He would never attempt to pull a gun on a police officer," O'Neill said. "He knows that he could be shot if he did that. He would never be so foolish."

To neighbors, the image of Hinkle as a violent, gun-toting criminal is at odds with the gentlemanly, if extremely private, man they know.

Hinkle plowed his neighbors' driveways free of charge after it snowed and helped find missing dogs, neighbor Karen Murray said. Yet he always politely declined invitations to join her family for dinner, and he seemed to want to be left alone.

"He was friendly to everybody he spoke to, but he wasn't the kind of neighbor who would come over," Murray said. "You have to give people their privacy if that's how they like to live."

Hinkle has not been charged with illegally possessing any of the weapons found in his house. State Police Sgt. Steve Jones said that may change, depending on the outcome of the investigation.

So far, he said, police have determined that the grenade, gunpowder, tear gas and a few other items are illegal.

Hinkle has no criminal record, and neither of the police departments closest to his home have had complaints about him.

He was a police officer from 1973 until 1986, when he left the Vineland Police Department on disability, said Police Chief Timothy Codispoti. Codispoti would not comment on the nature of the disability, but others on the force have said there were no problems.

From 1990 until he retired in 2006, Hinkle worked as a vocational trainer at the Vineland Developmental Center, a residential facility for developmentally disabled women. He helped residents learn trade skills such as packaging, said Pam Ronan, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services.

For years, possibly decades, neighbors said, Hinkle had the neighborhood to himself. His house at the end of a dirt driveway is surrounded by trees, and the woods around him were empty until about seven years ago, when Murray and her husband, Mike, built their house. Others have since bought land there and a scattering of homes is along the road.

Hinkle's father, a World War II veteran, lived with Hinkle for several years until he died, Murray said. Hinkle also has a son who sometimes stayed at the house, she said.

Hinkle never spoke about guns or weapons, Murray said. Occasionally, she heard a few shots coming from the direction of Hinkle's land.

"But that's not unusual in this area," she said. "We have a lot of hunters around here. I never thought twice about it."

One of the only hints of discontent Murray ever noticed in Hinkle was that he was opposed to higher taxes, and seemed to resent government interference in his life.

"He would say things like, he doesn't want to be told how to live," she said.

At least one of the men who eventually led police to Hinkle's house, Peter Monteleone Jr., has been a regular visitor of Hinkle's, the Murrays said.

Monteleone was allegedly involved in a Jan. 22 burglary at a farmhouse in Upper Pittsgrove, about 15 miles away, police said. A farmer, whose name has not been released, arrived home and saw two men loading some of his farm equipment into a trailer and pulling it away with an SUV.

The farmer alerted state police, who caught up with the men in Malaga. Police arrested Anthony D'Allesandro, 42, on charges of burglary and theft. He posted $2,500 bail in Salem County and is free pending a hearing. The other man, Monteleone, 44, fled from the passenger side of the car and is at large.

The suspects were stealing two golf carts and power tools, police said. A week earlier, Jones said, the pair is believed to have burglarized the same farm, taking tractors, seeders and spreaders worth about $50,000.

The police soon learned that Monteleone had delivered a trailer to Hinkle's address this week. Jones said Hinkle, Monteleone and D'Allessandro know each other. Authorities are investigating whether the trailer dropped off at Hinkle's property was used to store or move stolen goods.

Hinkle has bought and sold farm equipment, O'Neill, Hinkle's attorney, said yesterday.

On Monday, two troopers arrived at Hinkle's house to ask him about Monteleone. During their conversation, the officers told Hinkle they wanted to bring him in for questioning. Hinkle agreed to go but then tried to slam his door on them and grabbed a loaded .45 handgun from the kitchen counter, Jones said. He was charged with three counts of aggravated assault and released on bail. On Thursday, Hinkle was allowed to return home.

"The allegations are upsetting to him, because this isn't the kind of person he is," O'Neill said. "He's not someone who scares people."