Vadnais Heights Man Faces Machine Gun Charges

VADNAIS HEIGHTS, Minn. (AP) — Bail is set at $25,000 for a Vadnais Heights man charged with illegally possessing a machine gun and a short-barreled shotgun after his 13-year-old son allegedly threatened a classmate.

The man remained in jail after making his first appearance in Ramsey County court on Monday.

The father was charged with two felony weapons counts and a gross misdemeanor for negligently storing loaded firearms where a child could get at them. Except in certain cases, it's illegal to possess a machine gun or short-barreled shotgun in Minnesota. The complaint alleges neither weapon was registered or approved for legal possession.

The son is accused in juvenile court of making threats.

Court records do not list an attorney for the father who could speak on his behalf. The man is due back in court next week. The AP isn't naming the father to protect the identity of the teen, whose name isn't being released because of his age.

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(Earlier version)

VADNAIS HEIGHTS, Minn. (AP) — Prosecutors have charged a Minnesota man with illegally possessing a machine gun and a short-barreled shotgun after his 13-year-old son allegedly threatened a classmate.

Authorities say they discovered a cache of weapons during a search of the family's Vadnais Heights home prompted by the boy's alleged threat last week.

The father was charged Monday with two felony weapons counts and a gross misdemeanor for negligently storing loaded firearms where a child could get at them. He makes his first appearance in Ramsey County court on Monday.

The son is accused in juvenile court of making threats.

Authorities say Friday's search by federal and local officers was spurred by a parent's report that a student from the Academy for Sciences & Agriculture in Vadnais Heights made a threat against another student.

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