ST. LOUIS — Federal agents and local police who raided a home in the Benton Park West neighborhood seized meth, 20 pistols and rifles, a grenade launcher and a bulletproof vest marked “Police,” according to court records unsealed Tuesday.
Officers arrested 46-year-old Damian L. Pate and found the cache of weapons in the basement of a home at 3127 Pennsylvania Avenue, authorities said.
At least three adults were detained and a few children were evacuated by officers, including agents from Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Marshals Service, in the raid before 8 a.m. Monday.
A Homeland Security agent at the scene refused to talk about the raid and referred the Post-Dispatch to a spokeswoman, who did not return a message seeking comment.
Federal court records in the case were sealed Monday while the raid was being conducted, then unsealed Tuesday morning.
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The search warrant led to the criminal charge against Pate of felon in possession of a firearm.
The reasons for Monday’s raid were partly spelled out in an affidavit by Chad Hembree, a former Woodson Terrace police officer who is now a task force officer with the Department of Homeland Security.
Hembree said Pate was suspected of having a firearm in March. He was convicted for being a felon in possession of a firearm in 2022. He was convicted of tampering and unlawful use of a weapon in 2004, and drug possession in 2009.
Pate had been sentenced to 18 months in a federal prison for the 2022 weapons conviction. He was on supervised release when officers arrived at the home on Pennsylvania.
The children taken from the home were carried to an awaiting ambulance and stayed there until the raid was over.
After the raid, the children went back into the house with adults who had been released by officers.
Robert Cohen of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
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