Dorchester man charged after two loaded guns are found in his apartment

By Colin A. Young, Globe Correspondent

A Dorchester man was arrested early this morning after a search warrant turned up two unsecured loaded guns in his apartment, the Suffolk district attorney’s office said.

Magnetic Tom, 30, who also goes by the name “Tom Magnetic,” pleaded not guilty to two counts each of unlawful possession of a firearm, improper storage of a firearm, and unlawful possession of ammunition. Tom, who was convicted of drug distribution charges in 2003 and 2005, was arraigned as a Level II armed career criminal and was ordered held on $100,000 cash bail, District Attorney Daniel F. Conley’s office said in a statement

Officers from the Boston Police Youth Violence Strike Force and the department’s SWAT team executed a search warrant at Tom’s Washington Street apartment around 5 a.m. Thursday, prosecutors said. When they entered the apartment, they found Tom in a bedroom with a 28-year-old woman and a 1-year-old child. There were four other children under 11 years old inside the apartment as well. The woman declined a medical evaluation and left the apartment with the children.

When officers told Tom they were authorized to search the apartment for guns, he pointed them to a plastic bag filled with clothes and a nightstand near the bed, prosecutors said.

“You’re here to look for guns. I need to protect my family,” he allegedly said, acknowledging that he had two guns.

In the bag of clothes, officers found a loaded Hi Point .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun. In the nightstand, officers found a loaded Ruger .22-caliber handgun, 28 additional rounds of ammunition, and a magazine with no corresponding gun, prosecutors said.

A further search of the apartment yielded no additional contraband. Tom is expected back in court Dec. 3.