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Mattituck man arrested on criminal weapons charges

Update: Kevin Ehlinger was arraigned in court on Tuesday morning before the Honorable Brian Hughes, and is being held on $15,000 cash bail or $30,000 bond.

Dressed in a blue plaid shirt and jeans, Mr. Ehlinger was allegedly in possession of two 30 round rifle magazines, officials said. The witness involved in the arrest requested an order of protection, prosecution said Tuesday morning. The stay away order of protection won’t include a clause about no third party contact, but will include a portion about social media contact, officials said.

His lawyer, Michael Fehringer, indicated that Mr. Ehlinger would pay the bail that day.

He is next due in court on August 10.

Original story: A Mattituck man who had been previously arrested for firing a rifle toward Mattituck High School in 2009 was arrested on criminal weapons charges Monday, according to Southold Town police.

Kevin Ehlinger, 37, of Village Lane in Mattituck, was found to be illegally in possession of two rifles and two shotguns along with ammunition and magazines, police said in a press release Tuesday.

Officers responded to the home — located just east of Mattituck High School — on June 18 after receiving a call of a person possibly attempting to harm himself, police said. Police determined that Mr. Ehlinger could not legally possess these weapons due to his prior conviction connected to the 2009 incident that caused minor injuries to a student, the release stated.

Mr. Ehlinger is charged with two counts of criminal possession of a weapon and failure to register a lawfully possessed assault weapon.

He is being arraigned in Southold Town Justice Court Tuesday morning.

In October 2009, Mr. Ehlinger was arrested for accidentally firing his rifle and injuring a Mattituck High School student as she sat in her classroom. The student’s cheek was grazed by a bullet passing through an open classroom window, according to a previous Suffolk Times article.

He was charged with reckless endangerment, as well as other charges for firing a gun in a restricted area and drug possession, according to the article. Mr. Ehlinger pleaded guilty in 2010 and did not serve jail time.