A Hillsboro man is being held without bail after police say he pointed a firearm at a woman driving past him on Windsor Road, then hid the weapon in a wooded area where a K-9 later sniffed it out from beneath a pile of leaves. Sterling Silva, 67, of Hillsboro, faces multiple counts of criminal threatening, falsifying physical evidence, and reckless conduct with a deadly weapon following the October 23 incident.
Hillsboro Police responded to the area at approximately 3 p.m. that day after a resident reported that a man had pointed a firearm at her as she drove by, according to Newport Dispatch. Officers located Silva but did not find a firearm in his possession, the outlet reported, prompting investigators to broaden their search of the surrounding area.
K-9 Finds Weapon Hidden Beneath Leaves
Based on the investigation, officers searched a nearby wooded area, and a K-9 trained in firearm detection was deployed to assist, the report states. The dog located a firearm and loaded magazine concealed beneath leaves near a tree, matching the account a witness had given police minutes earlier.
The discovery led directly to the falsifying physical evidence charge against Silva, on top of the criminal threatening and reckless conduct counts tied to the alleged confrontation on Windsor Road. He was held without bail pending arraignment scheduled for Monday, October 26.
What New Hampshire Law Says About the Charges
Under New Hampshire's criminal code, criminal threatening covers conduct meant to terrorize another person, a term the statute defines as causing alarm, fright, or dread. Per the New Hampshire criminal threatening statute, threatening conduct that is not otherwise classified under a harsher provision is charged as a misdemeanor.
A related state law covering reckless conduct lays out penalties for certain convictions, including a $50 fine levied by the court for each conviction recorded as reckless conduct-domestic violence, in addition to any other penalties authorized by law, according to the New Hampshire reckless conduct statute. It is not known from available records whether that specific provision applies to Silva's case.
