Seminole Woods Teen, 15, Arrested After Grandfather Finds Stash of Stolen Weapons and Ammo In His Room

A 15-year-old resident of Palm Coast’s Seminole Woods faces a half dozen charges, among them illegal possession of firearms by a delinquent and grand theft of a firearm, after his grandfather found what amounted to a small arsenal in the teen’s bedroom, and deputies found more weaponry in the car he was driving around Palm Coast Wednesday. 

Wednesday evening, a 61-year-old resident of Seven Wonders Trail in Palm Coast called the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office to report finding firearms in his own grandson’s bedroom: a 9mm semi-automatic Tec-DC9 pistol, a .223 rifle, and 193 rounds of ammunition. The grandson, a 15-year-old boy (TC), was not at the house at the time. 

The grandfather was prompted to look in the room earlier when his grandson was there, and when he heard “the sound of a wall being bumped and a crackling noise” coming from the bedroom. Soon after that, TC and a friend left, TC telling his grandfather that he was going to meet a girl and would return later. 

The grandfather had had issues with his grandson before, such as holes being punched in the wall. So he looks in there every couple of weeks to check for damages–and to check for drugs. He went to the bedroom to investigate, opened a closet door and spotted a rifle case on a top shelf, and an “extremely heavy bag” on top of the case (as it was described in TC’s arrest report). He then called the sheriff’s office and placed the weapons on the dining room table. 

The boy’s mother arrived at the scene when deputies were at the house. By then the boy’s grandfather had given permission for deputies to conduct their own search. They located a Ruger 9mm magazine under the mattress, a water bong that appeared to have hashish oil residue, THC oil, and various paraphernalia. The search also produced four magazines for the rifle, two of them empty, one of them with 490 rounds and another with five rounds. 

The arrest report notes that “investigative techniques” determined that TC was in a Nissan Altima that an automatic license-plate reader detected  traveling east on Palm Coast Parkway, and–after TC’s mother urged him by phone to return home–he was pulled over along Underwood Trail. TC was with a woman in the car, a rental TC’s mother had rented. 

TC’s mother consented to having the car searched. The search produced a Ruger 9mm pistol under the front seat, with a magazine containing 10 rounds, two digital weighing scales, and “Dank Vapes: THC oil cartridges. 

All the firearms deputies recovered, both at the house and in the car, had been reported stolen. TC agreed to speak with deputies, but that part of his arrest report is blacked out, as is usually the case with self-incriminating statements. 

TC has previously been adjudicated a “delinquent” by the juvenile justice system, his arrest report states, having been arrested for grand theft auto and leaving the scene of an accident with property damage. 

“This young man is on a fast track to serious trouble,” Sheriff Rick Staly was quoted as saying in a release issued this morning. “I’m thankful that his grandfather called us and alerted us to the firearms inside his bedroom. On top of that, there was another firearm with him inside the vehicle. It is very concerning that a 15-year-old had access to such an arsenal of weapons including some that were stolen. It makes you wonder what he was planning. I hope the juvenile court system deals swiftly and takes these offenses seriously before he ends up a career criminal and in prison, or hurts or kills someone.”

The 15-year-old was taken into custody and charged with two counts of Possession of a Firearm by a Delinquent, one count of Possession of Ammunition by a Delinquent, Grand Theft of a Firearm, Possession of Hashish, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and No Valid Driver’s License. He was turned over to the juvenile justice system in Daytona Beach.