VERNON, Conn. — ROCKVILLE — A Bolton man who allegedly violated a protective order and told police the law doesn’t apply to him, was arraigned Monday in Rockville Superior Court. Michael Gramegna told the court he’s being set up.
Gramegna, 42, was offered the chance to hire an attorney or apply for a public defender. He declined and chose to represent himself. He told the court he did nothing wrong.
Gramegna carried a copy of Bible with him as he entered the courtroom. “I live by the Holy Bible,” he said in court.
Gramegna was ordered to stay away from a protected person with the initials C.C. But he told the court, “I am the victim here.” He’s accused of strangling C.C. until they were unconscious. “There was no victim, the alleged victim said it never happened, I said it never happened, the witness that was at the property said it never happened. All of the things that stems from that were all false,” Gramegna told the judge.
As part of that protective order, the court ordered Gremegna to surrender all his weapons. Gramegna claims the court made it impossible for him to do that. “They made a warrant to go search my home the day I got out of jail. I didn’t even have time to go back there you gave me an order saying I couldn’t, and then you arrested me for the guns that were there that I could not surrender,” he said.
Police discovered a cache of weapons in Gramegna’s home on Shoddy Mill Road in Bolton. His property that spans about 30-acres and is littered with abandoned vehicles and several outbuildings.
Neighbor Richard Smith said, “Not everybody has 21 guns, they may have three or four.” Marianne Stowell said, “I know there’s been some problems the recently so I wasn't terrible surprised. It’s a very quiet street in quiet town so to have something like this happen is unusual.“ Some of the weapons found were registered, others were not. The weapons range from pistols and long guns to assault rifles. Hundreds of rounds of ammunition were also discovered.
According to the arrest warrant, the weapons stockpile was found, ”In a lower level storage room, investigators located a cut-out in the drywall.”
Six of Gramegna’s kids live in the home with him. DCF went to their school to take custody of several of them. The kids allegedly said, “He is going to kill all of you...I can’t wait until my dad gets here, you’re all going to be sorry...lock-down doesn’t matter...my dad will come through that window...he’s going to shoot some people...you don’t know how mad he’s going to be.”
The children told police Gramegna’s home contained a panic room. “The children reported that the panic room was stocked with food, water and firearms,” read the warrant.
Gramegna is well known to law enforcement and the courts. He’s has 24 misdemeanors and 21 felonies. Ultimately the judge ordered Gramegna held on a million bond and will be back in court for this matter on March 3rd.If between now and then he happens to make bail — he will have to wear a GPS tracking device.