A 30-year-old Hutchinson man accused of allegedly having a number of weapons and a meth lab was in court Wednesday over a motion to suppress filed by his attorney Sam Kepfield.

Roberto Rincon was arrested for being in possession of a firearm, in this case a fully automatic machine gun back on March 20, after he was caught with the weapon back on March 10.

Also, during a protection from abuse hearing, Judge Joe McCarville learned he had more weapons and ordered him to turn those weapons over to the Reno County Sheriff’s Department by 10 a-m, the next day. He failed to do so. That led to a search warrant being issued and other guns being seized.

Law Enforcement apparently did a traffic stop at 5th & Van Buren where they arrested him on the warrant over the guns. It started with a search of his vehicle, as well as his home at 1612 West 4th, Apt G. During the pat down of Rincon, they allegedly found a black 380-caliber semi-automatic handgun on his person. He was then arrested and his vehicle taken to the law enforcement center to search for more weapons. When they opened the trunk, they allegedly discovered items suspected as being associated with the manufacture of methamphetamine. Another search warrant was served leading to the meth charges.

The defense contended that law enforcement didn’t have probable cause for the initial search because they didn’t have any evidence that a crime had been or was being committed. They say what information they did have was hearsay coming from the alleged victim in the PFA. But, the state argued that Rincon has a history with firearms and admitted during the PFA hearing that he carried weapons. Judge Tim Chambers agreed with the state and denied the motion.

During Wednesday’s hearing, they also went through some other standard pre-trial motions including not allowing prior bad acts testimony at trial which the judge granted, and also some minor issues over discovery.

The trial is expected to get underway on January 15.