Man gets prison time for having ‘ghost gun’ in downtown Saratoga Springs

A Schoharie County man was sentenced Wednesday to up to six years in prison for carrying a “ghost gun” while try to enter a Saratoga Springs bar.

Timothy J. Feldman was arrested in the early morning hours of July 23. The bar’s bouncer found the gun and flagged down police.

Police determined that the firearm did not have a valid serial number. Feldman had been a corrections officer and was off-duty at the time. He admitted that he purchased the firearm components online and built it himself.

Saratoga County District Attorney Karen Heggen said in a statement that the case is an example of Caroline Street business owners working alongside Saratoga Springs Police to confront the issues of loaded firearms downtown.

“This kind of behavior, regardless of your age or profession, is completely inexcusable. I hope this plea and significant state prison sentence serve as a warning to those who would even consider unlawfully carrying loaded firearms in the city,” she said in a statement.

In November 2022, Vito Caselnova, an off-duty Rutland County Sheriff’s deputy and Alex Colon, of Utica, got into an altercation and exchanged gunfire downtown.

Colon and two other men from Utica involved in the fight, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor attempted assault charges and received conditional discharges and fines.

Caselnova, who was shot at by police after they said he refused to drop his weapon, was facing more serious charges of attempted murder. However, the indictment against him was dismissed after Judge Jim Murphy ruled that prosecutors made serious flaws when they presented the case to the grand jury and demonstrated a pattern of unfairness.

The DA’s office is appealing the decision.