Defaced firearms, ghost guns, meth seized in Beachwood and Toms River, netting 2 arrests

TOMS RIVER - A 55-year-old Beachwood man and a 39-year-old Manchester woman are in the Ocean County Jail, facing charges related to the seizure of methamphetamine and a cache of so-called "ghost guns'' and other illegal weapons, Stafford police said. 

Searches at the home of George A. Garulle on Neptune Avenue in Beachwood and a room at the Howard Johnson Motel in Toms River yielded  a host of contraband and led to the arrests Monday of Garulle, 55, and Dana Restaino, of Schoolhouse Road in the Whiting section of Manchester, Stafford police said in a news release.

Authorities also searched a car that Garulle and Restaino were in possession of, the news release said.

The pair were found to be in possession of numerous illegal firearms, specifically defaced handguns, so-called ghost guns with no serial numbers, rifles, shotguns, high-capacity magazines, ammunition, methamphetamine and a substantial amount of cash, the news release said.

Garulle and Restaino were both charged with four counts of possessing a firearm without a serial number, four counts of possessing rifles or shotguns, two counts of possessing large capacity magazines, and one count each of possession of a defaced firarm, distribution of an undetectable firearm and possession of methamphetamine.

In addition, Garulle was charged as a certain person not to have weapons because of his felony convictions. Court records show Garulle has prior convictions for unlawful possession of a handgun, resisting arrest and shoplifting. 

Garulle and Restaino are both at the county jail, awaiting hearings to determine if they will continue to be held without bail pending trial.

The searches and arrests were the result of a joint investigation into the distribution of illegal firearms in the area by the Stafford Police Department's Drug Enforcement Unit, the New Jersey State Police Crime Suppression Unit and the Ocean County Narcotics Strike Force, Stafford police said. 

Kathleen Hopkins, a reporter in New Jersey since 1985, covers crime, court cases, legal issues and just about every major murder trial to hit Monmouth and Ocean counties. Contact her at [email protected].