3 tons of fireworks seized from upstate N.Y. home

Shawn Cohen and Colin Gustafson | The Westchester (N.Y.) Journal News

MOUNT PLEASANT, N.Y. — A Valhalla, N.Y., man pleaded not guilty Tuesday even as police remained busy removing thousands of pounds of professional-grade fireworks from his basement.

Public Safety Commissioner George Longworth, whose Westchester County department carried out the operation with federal agents, called this one of the largest seizures of illegal fireworks in the county. The discovery prompted the evacuation of several neighboring homes.

Stephen Surace, 53, was charged with third-degree criminal possession of a weapon and first-degree reckless endangerment, felonies, and unlawfully dealing in fireworks, a misdemeanor.

He was taken into custody late Monday after an undercover county officer purchased $1,000 worth of fireworks. Authorities then searched his home and found that the 1,500-square-foot basement was stacked floor to ceiling with several hundred boxes of fireworks, many the same kind used in commercial displays such as the Macy's Fourth of July celebration in Manhattan, county police said.

"Based on the volume of material and the potential explosive hazard, the decision was made to move immediately to arrest Mr. Surace and secure the home," Longworth said.

Four truckloads of fireworks, weighing about 3 tons, were removed by a Westchester County police hazardous devices unit and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

"If that amount was ever detonated by accident, it would definitely have destroyed that house and probably houses surrounding it," ATF spokesman Charles Mulham said after surveying the basement.

Federal agents and county police spent several hours removing fireworks from the 4,500-square-foot home. The boxes included basketball-sized mortars that are more like explosives than fireworks, police said.

"It's the equivalent of having a big bomb in the basement of your house," county police spokesman Kieran O'Leary said.

Some of the boxes were labeled "fiery cocktail," "diamond rattler" and "assorted cakes." Others said "Made in China."

Surace is believed to have purchased the fireworks in Pennsylvania, though Mulham of the ATF said "our investigation into the origin and source of these professional-grade fireworks is just beginning."

Neighbors gathered to watch the police activity and news crews. Gail Morrow, a longtime neighbor, said that for years Surace would put on fireworks displays in his yard on July 4 and other holidays.

"We used to sit in our kitchen and look out and see these beautiful fireworks," Morrow said. "It's going to be the end of the show, I guess."