Smithfield man’s hearing continued
The preliminary hearing for a Smithfield man who allegedly had a cache of illegal weapons in his Georges Township home and homemade explosive devices in a Masontown storage shed was continued. The hearing for Raymond Conway Baker III, arrested last week after a standoff with state police, was rescheduled for Aug. 17 before Magisterial District Judge Randy Abraham.
Charges against Baker, 44, of 13 Rose Circle in the Strickland Estates mobile home park, include aggravated and simple assault, terroristic threats, reckless endangerment and harassment.
Police said the standoff started after Baker and his wife, Shelly, had an argument over finances around 5 p.m. During the course of that fight, police allege Baker hit his wife in the face and screamed at her before getting a shotgun from his bedroom and pointing it at her head.
He surrendered to police four hours later. Authorities searched his home, finding nearly two dozen guns, including an M-16 machine gun.
The fully automatic weapon, not legal for purchase, prompted involvement from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The next day, the state police bomb squad was called to investigate explosive devices found in a storage unit that Baker renter on Route 166 near Masontown.