Grenade, gun stockpile lead to charges in Elbert

An Elberton man faces charges that he illegally stockpiled 600 hand grenades and more than 30 rifles and handguns in the basement of his Stoney Creek Drive home.

Agents with the federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms and Elbert County sheriff's deputies carried out a search warrant at the two-story home of 42-year-old Greg Giannoni Thursday afternoon following a six-month investigation, Elbert County Sheriff Barry Haston said.

Giannoni, who worked in the granite business up until about five years ago, was licensed to sell ammunition, Haston said. He was under indictment for four years on a charge of pointing a gun at another before the charge was dismissed two weeks ago because of lack of evidence, Haston said. He has no criminal record.

The weapons seized included .22-caliber rifles, a Ruger Mini 14 semiautomatic rifle, a .50-caliber rifle, 9mm and .40-caliber handguns.

Giannoni faces federal charges of possessing unregistered weapons and is being held without bond at the Elbert County jail pending a Monday appearance before a federal magistrate in Athens. Charges regarding the grenades are expected to be brought next week.

Haston said authorities were unsure where Giannoni got the military-green grenades, 400 of which were of the ''pineapple'' variety and 200 of which were ''baseball'' style. They were found in 100 cardboard boxes in Giannoni's basement, Haston said.

It was not known if Giannoni was dealing arms from the home he shared with his wife and 21-year-old son.

At least six of the firearms were purchased illegally while Giannoni was under indictment, Haston said.

Little study in bias here. From the first article:

Grenade, gun stockpile lead to charges in Elbert

An Elberton man faces charges that he illegally stockpiled 600 hand grenades and more than 30 rifles and handguns in the basement of his Stoney Creek Drive home.

Note how the writer keeps mentioning the guns, in order to connect them to the grendes, to try and re-inforce notions that owning a lot of guns is illegal. Also notice the hallowed gun-grabber term "stockpile."

Now, the second article posted:

600 grenades seized; Elberton man charged

A northeast Georgia man was charged Friday with unlawful possession of weapons after 600 hand grenades and materials for explosives, ambush devices and booby traps, including trip wire, were found in his home basement...

Notice, no mention of guns here. No attempts to connect the guns to the actual illegal stuff, the grendades. A much more honest article...

Here is the latest story from the weekly Elberton Star.

Hand grenade parts seized

By Gary Jones

Assistant U.S. Attorney Pete Peterman said Monday the government will oppose granting bond to an Elberton man charged with possessing easily-assembled hand grenade components.

Federal Magistrate Judge Claude Hicks signed an order of "temporary detention" at a hearing in Macon Monday and set a bond hearing date for Thursday for Greg Giannoni, 42, who was arrested on federal charges of possessing the parts to make some 600 hand grenades.

In addition to the bond hearing, Giannoni's attorney, Ed Tolley of Athens, has asked for a preliminary hearing in which the government will be required to show that there is enough evidence in the case to bind it over to a federal grand jury.

The bond hearing and the preliminary hearing are set for 10:30 a.m. on Thursday.

Hicks granted a temporary detention motion, according to court documents, because the government considers Giannoni a "serious risk of obstruction of justice" and because he is charged with a "crime of violence." Court papers also show the government considers Giannoni a threat to the "safety of any other person and the community." Tuesday morning, an Elbert County Sheriff's office spokesman said Giannoni will remain in federal custody in Macon at least until the hearing.

Giannoni, of 1816 Stoney Creek Drive, was arrested Friday while he was conferring with Elbert County Sheriff Barry Haston about reports of a combined sheriff's department/Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms raid last Thursday at Giannoni's home.

Haston said a federal warrant for Giannoni's arrest was faxed to the sheriff's office Friday afternoon while Giannoni was complaining to the sheriff about details of the raid.

"He was complaining about the confiscation of the pills we took from his house," said Haston. Haston said Giannoni says he has prescriptions for the medications confiscated. "While he was in my office the warrant was faxed to the sheriff's office, so we went ahead and placed him under arrest."

ATF Assistant Special Agent In Charge Mark Potter said Friday the warrant for Giannoni's arrest dealt specifically with one count of possession of a single hand grenade. Technically, Potter said, Giannoni could face 600 counts, since there were 600 easily-assembled hand grenades in the basement, and Potter said Giannoni faces 10 years in prison for each count.

ATF agents, working in conjunction with the Elbert County Sheriff's Department, seized the hand-grenade components and a military-style .50-caliber rifle at Giannoni's residence last Thursday afternoon.

Eight ATF agents from Atlanta, armed with a federal search warrant and a bomb-sniffing dog, transported the components for the hand grenades to a secret military bomb shelter, where federal explosive experts analyzed the materials. Giannoni was present in the home during the ATF raid, which lasted into the evening hours Thursday. The search and seizure culminated a six-month investigation initiated by the sheriff's department. Haston said investigators from his office asked for assistance from the ATF.

In addition to the federal seizure, Haston and Elbert County Sheriff's deputies also seized two duffel bags loaded with pills and "diabetes medication-like" vials, according to Haston. Also, the sheriff's department removed a dozen rifles and shotguns and several pistols from the residence.

Agents working at the scene said the number of hand grenades were "pretty substantial."

"We don't run across this large a scale of these types of explosives," said one of the agents working at the scene late Thursday afternoon.

Haston said his office contacted Giannoni at his home last Thursday and told Giannoni that he had to come to the sheriff's office to be fingerprinted and to sign a license Giannoni has to manufacture ammunition. Giannoni owns and operates a web-based company that manufactures specialty bullets and ammunition. The company is incorporated with the Secretary of State's office as G Spot Inc. The web address is gbullet.com.

When Giannoni arrived at the sheriff's office to sign the license, Haston said Giannoni was told that federal ATF agents had a search warrant.

According to Haston, Giannoni was "mostly cooperative" and led sheriff's deputies to weapons that were located on the top two floors of the residence.

Meanwhile, ATF explosive experts searched the basement of the residence, where they found the hand grenade components and the military-style .50-caliber rifle, which was mounted on a tripod. Also found by the federal agents was a box full of handguns, which the sheriff's department seized. Haston said the pills and vials were being sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab.

Thus far there have been no charges filed against Giannoni for the pills, but Elbert County Sheriff Investigator Chris Cornell said Friday state investigators would be going through the massive volumes of pills to determine exactly what the pills were. "He (Giannoni) told us he had a prescription for every single pill we took, and he was very cooperative in showing us where the pills were," said Haston.

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