HAMDEN — A Hamden man is facing several charged after police found body armor in his home.
On Wednesday June 3, police responded to a home on Lakeview Avenue. Probation officers were conducting a routine search at Richard Bove’s residence for unreported computers and cell phones. Police say that while transporting Bove, 47, to his residence, he made a threatening remark towards the mother of his children.
During the search of his home, probation officers found body armor with the words “Police” and “Secret Service” written on the carrier. Officers also found two pellet guns and a holster. Bove, who is on probation after being convicted for a “class C felony,” is not to be in the possession of body armor.
Hamden Police arrested Bove and he was charged with criminal possession of body armor and disorderly conduct.
However, on Monday night Bove called Fox CT to tell his side of the story. Bove says that he buys and sells storage units, and two years ago he found a police vest in one that had belonged to a corrections officer. He says he informed his probation officer at the time, who took it away to investigate. He says it was determined that the vest was stab-proof, but not body armor, and therefore was legal to have.
Bove says his probation officer at that time gave it back to him, and it was documented in a national database that he was in possession of the vest.
Bove says that he has a new probation officer, who was unaware of this. He also says that the “armor” that said “Secret Service” was in fact his 18-year-old son’s Halloween costume that he bought at a local shop in the fall. He says he was also charged with disorderly conduct for trying to explain his side of the story.
Police have not verified Bove’s account of events.
Bove is due back in court on July 19.
