A routine traffic stop in Worcester led to the arrest of two individuals after police discovered a loaded handgun with a defaced serial number in their vehicle. The Worcester Police Department reported that officers from the Neighborhood Response Team were patrolling on Pleasant St in the early hours of April 13 when they spotted a car driven erratically, lacking an active inspection sticker and a functioning plate light.
The traffic stop occurred on Summer St, where Worcester officers, after noticing multiple open alcohol containers inside the car, requested that the driver, 30-year-old Haley Jano of Oxford, and her passenger, 34-year-old Daniel Jimenez of Loxwood St, step out. Both were asked whether they were carrying weapons, and the flawed response, when discovered to be false, indicated they carried none. Contrary to their claim, a subsequent search by the officers unearthed a handgun.
According to a statement published on the Worcester Police Department's website, neither Jano nor Jimenez had the required licenses to carry firearms. The gun, which was loaded and had its serial number defaced, led to their immediate arrest.
In an unfolding series of charges, the pair face multiple offenses including possession of an open container of alcohol, improper storage of a firearm, and possession of ammunition without an FID card. The storied vehicle, carrying a loaded firearm without a license and a firearm with a defaced serial number, became the center of a criminal investigation.
