JERSEY CITY, N.J. — A Pennsylvania man arrested last year outside New York with a vehicle full of weapons on a self-described mission to rescue a teenager from a drug den pleaded guilty Monday to weapons charges, but said he would do it all again to save someone’s life.
John Cramsey, of East Greenville, and two associates were arrested outside the Holland Tunnel. He told authorities they were going to rescue the girl. She died months later of an overdose.
Cramsey pleaded guilty in a New Jersey courtroom to unlawful possession of a gun and possession for an unlawful purpose. Each count carries a maximum sentence of five years with no parole for a year. Cramsey’s attorney plans to seek probation.
Acquaintances say the gun range owner became an anti-drug crusader after his daughter died of an overdose. Cramsey posted online shortly before his arrest that he was heading from Pennsylvania to New York to “rescue” a girl whose friend had overdosed. His vehicle was stopped in June 2016 at the entrance of the Holland Tunnel on the New Jersey side.
Police recovered a semi-automatic, military-style rifle, a shotgun, five handguns and tactical gear.
Asked if he would do what he did again, Cramsey said after the hearing that he would but would be more careful.
“It’s a mission in memory, not just of my daughter, but of many people who’ve lost their lives,” he said. “I would have carried her out if I’d had the chance. I still would to this day. If I’d had to leave my truck there and run to get that girl, I would have.”
Dean Smith, of Whitehall, Pennsylvania, and Kimberly Arendt, of Lehighton, Pennsylvania, made deals with prosecutors this year to avoid a trial. All three were charged with multiple weapons offenses.
Smith was driving Cramsey’s neon-painted truck when the group was stopped. According to police, the vehicle was pulled over because it had a crack in its windshield and had some objects hanging from a rearview mirror.
The defendants contended they were actually stopped because of the truck’s Second Amendment-themed decorations, and they sought unsuccessfully in court to have the search invalidated.
New Jersey has more stringent gun laws than Pennsylvania. It doesn’t recognize carry permits from other states, and guns in cars must be kept locked and unloaded in a trunk or secure container.
“This is an ongoing thing, I don’t stop. I don’t go looking for it, it finds me,” Cramsey said. “It’s as much a curse as it is a blessing. It consumes me every waking moment of the day.”
