May 24, 2010 Chester County court security stop armed man www.privateofficer.com
Brian Benjamin, 42, of the 1200 block of Madison Street, was ordered held on $100,000 bail after a preliminary arraignment Wednesday by District Judge Mark Bruno of West Chester. He was charged by Chester County Detective Harold Dutter with misdemeanor counts of firearms not to be carried without a license and possession of a firearm in a court facility.
Benjamin was entering the Justice Center shortly before 11 a.m. Wednesday to appear for a child support conference with the mother of his child and her attorney at the county Domestic Relations Office, according to a report of the incident.
When he passed through the security station at the building entrance about 10:55 a.m., he placed a briefcase or satchel on the X-ray machine’s conveyor belt. Security Officer Donald Erdman saw on the monitor what appeared to be a handgun inside the briefcase as it passed through.
The gun was described by investigators as a silver Springfield 1911 .45-caliber semi-automatic. The gun had a magazine in it with eight rounds inside, although there was no live bullets in the gun’s chamber.
According to reports, after Erdmen spotted the gun, he notified Deputy Sheriff Steven Sibbett, who approached Benjamin and asked if he was a law enforcement officer or had a permit to carry a concealed weapon. Benjamin re
plied that he did have a permit, but that he had left it at home. The criminal affidavit filed against him indicates that he also checked his wallet to see if he had the permit with him. He did not.
Benjamin said he had received the permit in Chester County. While another deputy detained Benjamin at the entrance, Sibbett went to the county sheriff’s office on the first floor of the Justice Center and asked the deputy in charge of firearm license records to check for Benjamin’s permit. A review of the records showed that he did not have a valid permit, but it was unclear whether he had a permit that had expired or no permit at all.
Benjamin was then handcuffed and taken to the sheriff’s lockup area.
On Thursday, Sheriff Carolyn “Bunny” Welsh praised her deputies for having responded appropriately to the situation.
“Probably one of the most dangerous situations in a courthouse is walking through the front door with a handgun,” she said. “People at the security monitors are vitally important to maintaining safety and order here, especially when it involves domestic situations or family courts, because they can be so volatile.”
It was not clear whether Benjamin purposefully meant to bring the gun to the hearing in Domestic Relations. An attorney for the mother of Benjamin’s child, Julie Ganz of Fox Rothschild in Exton, could not be reached for comment. The hearing was apparently not a dispute over back support owed by Benjamin, but to begin the determination of how much he should pay and when.
Benjamin, the nominal owner of a graphic design and photography firm in Phoenixville known as Visual-Graphix, has had financial problems of late.
A bank foreclosed on a home on Virginia Avenue in Phoenixville that he lived in, saying he had failed to make payments on the $200,000 mortgage. A credit card company also filed a claim against him seeking money owed. And at least one customer has filed a claim against him in Common Pleas Court seeking reimbursement of $3,000 for wedding photos that were paid for in 2008 but not properly delivered.
“I think the officers involved acted absolutely appropriately, and I am very pleased,” said Welsh. “It was a job well done. We literally dodged a bullet.”
A preliminary hearing has been set for Tuesday at 9 a.m.
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