After 59 firearms and ammunition were found in a walk-in vault owned by Kent D. Lindemuth, a federal judge ruled Thursday that Lindemuth violated terms of his pre-trial release.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Gary Sebelius declined to revoke Lindemuth’s pre-trial release to incarcerate him. Lindemuth was released from custody.

The vault, which had three safes inside, was in a storage warehouse at 200 S.W. Jackson, where Lindemuth’s business partner, Curt Cochran, 64, was killed in on May 9 after shrink wrap was wrapped around his head, smothering him, the coroner testified. Trials are pending against two men charged in the Cochran slaying.

A total of 2,166 other firearms owned by Lindemuth, which are valued at $1.4 million, earlier were recovered from a south Topeka storage site.

Before the hearing, U.S. Marshals went to Lindemuth’s home on Thursday morning to take him into custody. When he entered the courtroom, his hands were cuffed behind his back and he was wearing street clothes.

"How do you know that Mr. Lindemuth doesn’t have access to guns that we don’t know about?" a clearly exasperated Sebelius said shortly before he made his ruling.

How can you assure me there aren’t more guns out there? Sebelius said to William Skepnek, one of two lawyers defending Lindemuth. Lindemuth is charged with 103 counts of bankruptcy fraud in the purchase of 103 pistols, which weren’t disclosed as part of Lindemuth’s bankruptcy estate, according to court records.

Late in the roughly 90-minute hearing on Thursday, Skepnek said the 59 firearms were owned by Cochran. Throughout the rest of the hearing, the guns were referred to as being Lindemuth’s.

Skepnek finally said the guns were owned by Cochran but were stored in a walk-in vault with three safes inside it. The vault is owned by Lindemuth, Skepnek said, but defense attorneys said their client didn’t know the combination to the vault.

In December, FBI agents confirmed guns were in the vault, and in January, defense attorneys provided lock combinations to the U.S. Attorney’s office, but the combinations didn’t unlock the vault. Lindemuth worked at the Jackson address twice a week, Skepnek said.

Assistant U.S. attorney Rich Hathaway said he thought Lindemuth was giving "bogus" combinations numbers to investigators. Hathaway sent an email to Kevin Babbit, Lindemuth’s second defense attorney, asking whether the defense would agree to a forced breaching of the vault.

"We got no answer," Hathaway said. If the guns in the vault were turned over to the U.S. Attorney’s office, Lindemuth wouldn’t be charged with anything tied to those firearms, Hathaway said.

Hathaway told the judge he thought Lindemuth had the vault and safe locks changed.

"Things are closing in on Mr. Lindemuth," Hathaway told the judge, noting that Lindemuth’s bankruptcy cases are being reopened by the federal bankruptcy trustees. Trustees plan to convert the Lindemuth bankruptcies from Chapter 11 to Chapter 7, which would liquidate Lindemuth’s assets to pay his creditors.

Lindemuth is going to be "bereft of assets" for departure from the United States, Hathaway said.

As for the prosecution request to force open the vault, Babbit told the judge that Lindemuth gave the OK to breach the safe. Babbit said he didn’t communicate that approval to Hathaway while the defense was looking for more combinations for the vault.

"I thought there was an on-going discussion on drilling it out," Babbit told the judge. Babbit didn’t make communicating with Hathaway a priority, he said.

"I never received authorization" to breach the vault, Hathaway said. It wasn’t made clear during the hearing whether the 59 firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition were recovered by breaching the vault or with a combination.

In seeking revocation of Lindemuth’s release from jail, Hathaway called him "a danger to the community. Not only does he have these guns, he uses them."

Lindemuth practices "vigilante justice," Hathaway said, referring to Lindemuth firing shots at intruders on two of his properties, including the severe wounding of one man.

Skepnek said Lindemuth’s guns "were investments, most never fired."

In just over three weeks, Lindemuth, who is charged with 116 federal felonies, is scheduled to go on trial in federal court.

Lindemuth is charged with 107 counts of bankruptcy fraud, six counts of money laundering, and one count each of perjury, receipt of ammunition and receipt of firearms. The trial starts May 9.

The Topeka Capital-Journal was the only news medium in court Thursday.

Contact reporter Steve Fry at (785) 295-1206 or @TCJCourtsNCrime on Twitter.