Illegal Guns Seized from Felons in Separate Township Incidents: Police

Two felons—including one on community release from state prison—had illegal handguns in the township, police said. 

Police seized the two guns during separate incidents on May 4 and 5. 

In the first incident, police responded to a unit at Lakewood Manor Apartments on Lakeland Road in the township's Blackwood section at 11:50 p.m. May 4 for a report of a disturbance. 

Upon arriving, officers saw blood on the apartment doorway, and encountered two people who had just left the apartment. 

Officers also heard several people inside the apartment who initially refused to open the door, even as officers could see them cleaning up blood inside the apartment, according to Deputy Chief David Harkins. 

The two people outside the apartment tried to obstruct the investigation and became disorderly, police said. They were identified as Ernest Council III, 24, of Buttonwood Apartments, and Denise Evers, 22, of Williamstown; both were arrested. Evers also had illegal narcotics, poice said. 

After about 20 minutes, officers convinced the people inside the apartment—three women, two men, as well as 6-year-old child—to come out. The adults were arrested and charged with obstruction of justice. 

While checking the apartment for anyone with injuries, officers saw ammunition in plain view and learned Council had an illegal handgun. 

Police found a locked safe in the apartment, and obtained a search warrant the next day. A search of the safe revealed a .357 Magnum handgun belonging to Council, Harkins said. 

Council has a prior criminal record and isn't allowed to own firearms. He pleaded guilty in 2008 to eluding police and drug-distribution in Camden County, and was sentenced to three years in state prison, according to court records. 

Council was charged in the May 4 incident with persons not permitted to obtain a firearm. He was held in the Camden County Jail on $50,000 full cash bail. 

In a separate incident, officers responded to a report of a domestic disturbance on Delaware Avenue in the Clementona Development in the township's Erial section at 5:24 p.m. May 5. Officers learned that before they arrived, a man armed with a handgun had run out the rear of the home, Harkins said. 

Officers surrounded the area and learned the man was running through adjacent yards. He was arrested a short time later on Girard Avenue, but he was not armed. The man, identified as 24-year-old Ivan Paige, of Delaware Avenue, refused to cooperate with police, Harkins said. 

Because they believed Paige had hidden the weapon and neighborhood children might find it, police conducted an extensive overnight search for the gun. On Monday, officers re-interviewed Paige and obtained information that led them to the handgun. 

Paige was charged with obstruction of justice, weapons offenses and violation of the state's Intensive Supervision Program, a community release program for nonviolent offenders. 

In April 2011, Paige was sentenced to four years in state prison for hindering apprehension and theft in Camden County, according to the state Department of Corrections' website. While already imprisoned on those charges, he was sentenced separately in August 2011 to four years in state prison for receiving stolen property in Gloucester County. 

Paige served about seven months in prison before he was released into the Intensive Supervision Program. 

He was being held in the Camden County Jail on the current charges. 

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