A raid last month on a pawnshop in Baltimore netted a picture of what police described as a “warhead,” according to reports obtained by The Examiner.
The discovery led the FBI to question Ukrainian immigrant Vladislav Byalyy.
During the March 16 raid of the Chesapeake Pawnshop on the 1000 block of West 36th St. in Hamden, a digital camera was confiscated from Byalyy, 30, a temporary employee police characterized as “Russian.” The report stated Byalyy was “very upset” when the camera was taken.
Police at the scene reported one of the images on Byalyy?s camera as showing an “unknown device.” The image was turned over to the Criminal Intelligence Division for an analysis, which determined that the device was a “warhead” according to the report. The image was subsequently turned over to the Special Investigation Unit.
Byalyy told The Examiner that the picture was a joke, taken after one of his friends found a spent artillery shell at a warehouse sale. Byalyy, who described the shell as being two feet in length, said the FBI, along with city and county police, raided the Baltimore County home of his parents, with whom he lives, and questioned him for eight hours.
“They called me and told me to come over” to a gas station, where they took him in for questioning, he said. “It was very stressful.”
Byalyy said the police asked where he had obtained the object and what he was doing with it. The police released him and he has not heard from them since.
“I can?t really complain,” Byalyy said. “They were very professional.”
During the raid on the pawnshop, several laptops, some jewelry and collectible coins were confiscated. The items were listed on the report as “untagged and possibly stolen.” Stephen Bernstein, the store owner, said the merchandise was “old and untagged, not stolen.”
Also confiscated were two handguns, an unloaded .22-caliber revolver and a loaded Glock.
No charges have been filed against Byalyy or anyone else at the store, according to Matt Jablow, city police spokesman. The matter is still under investigation, he said.
Despite what happened, Byalyy is quite pleased with the outcome. “At least it shows they would catch someone if they were up to something,” he said. “It wasn?t the best experience in my life, but I would like to get my gun back.”
