BOSTON — Patriots cornerback Jack Jones pleaded not guilty to a medley of firearms-related charges and continues to be released on bail following his arraignment.
Jones, 25, was arrested by Massachusetts State Police on Friday after they say two pistols were found in his carry-on bag as he was going through a TSA security checkpoint at Boston Logan International Airport, where MSP has jurisdiction, at around 5:30 p.m. He was planning to board a flight to Los Angeles, according to the initial TSA information of the incident which did not mention him by name.
He was charged with two counts each of possession of a concealed weapon in a secure area of an airport, possession of ammunition without a firearm identification card, unlawful possession of a firearm, carrying a loaded firearm and possession of a large-capacity feeding device. He posted $30,000 cash bail.
The charges of possession of a large-capacity feeding device cannot be finalized at the municipal court level and would need to be indicted by a grand jury to be kicked up to the Superior Court.
The alleged guns were both loaded Glock 9mm pistols, a Glock 43X and Glock 19, according to prosecutors. Seized alongside them were three loaded magazines: a 30-round, a 15-round and 10-round, as well as total of 54 rounds of 9mm ammunition. The guns were allegedly inside an unlocked black Glock handgun box that was itself inside a black duffel bag labeled with the words “UFC” and “Jones, Jack” and in addition to the weapons contained “multiple pairs of white socks and other articles of … men’s clothing.”
The MSP trooper was directed toward a black duffel bag in Terminal B’s security checkpoint’s seventh lane that TSA personnel had identified as containing weapons, according to the police report. The trooper asked Jones if he carried a license for these weapons and Jones allegedly “respectfully declined to speak without an attorney present.”
Jones appeared in municipal court in East Boston Tuesday morning with his attorney, Rosemary Scapicchio.
Following the hearing, Scapicchio told reporters that this case was simply an example of “institutional racism we deal with every day in the court system.”
“It’s disrespectful to Mr. Jones and everyone else, every other black man in America who’s young and black to be called a thug because he happens to be black in this situation,” she told reporters outside the courthouse, repeatedly insinuating that coverage so far had disparagingly painted her client out as a “thug” or “wannabe gang member.”
“There’s no indication whatsoever that he was in any way disrespectful. There’s no in information at all that he was in any way did anything to say he wanted to be a gang member or a thug. He’s a young black man charged with a crime.”
She said that Jones “had no intention of bringing any guns into … that airport that day.”
If convicted of all the charges, the Patriots’ fourth-round pick last year who started two of 13 games for the team could see up to 30 years in prison.
He missed the last four games of the season with a knee injury and then was suspended for the season’s final two weeks for reportedly being late to rehab sessions, according to previous Boston Herald reporting.
In the spring of 2018, Jones was arrested for his involvement in the burglary of a Panda Express restaurant in California. He faced felony charges of commercial burglary and felony conspiracy to commit a crime. Those charges were later reduced to a misdemeanor count of commercial burglary as part of a plea agreement involving 45-day house arrest.
Judge John McDonald, Jr. scheduled a probable cause hearing on the Boston weapons charges for Aug. 18.
