DA drops ghost gun case against Massapequa dentist after judge rules Nassau police conducted unauthorized search

The Nassau County District Attorney’s Office was forced to drop its ghost gun case against a Massapequa dentist, who was found with an arsenal of illegal weapons in his home, because of what the court deemed was a botched raid by Nassau police.

The 74-count case against Paul Carey, 65, who practiced out of his Riviera Drive East home, was dismissed and sealed Tuesday morning by State Supreme Court Justice Robert Schwartz.

He was charged with 73 counts of illegal weapons or firearm possession and one count of menacing.

Carey, who faced up to 25 years in prison if convicted, did not appear in court, but his lawyer issued a statement.

"When police overstep their authority and conduct unreasonable searches, only the courts can intervene to protect the rights of citizens,” defense attorney John Carman said in an emailed statement. "This was the case with Dr. Carey, who is grateful for the courage of the judges who found that his constitutional rights had been violated.”

Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly lost an appeal to a higher court seeking to allow dozens of ghost guns, silencers and 3,000 rounds of ammunition found in the dentist’s home into evidence at trial.

The case stemmed from a Feb. 16, 2021, incident between Carey and his office secretary.

She told police that just before 2 p.m., she heard Carey scream her name over and over again, according to court records.

When she ran to the foot of a staircase at the office, she heard what sounded like someone cocking a gun and looked up to see the dentist standing at the top of the stairs with a handgun, according to records.

Alarmed, she asked him what he was doing and he replied, "You almost got shot,” and then laughed, records show. In fear, she grabbed her purse and fled the office, calling police when she got home, telling them that she smelled alcohol on the doctor.

Nassau County police were familiar with Carey because he had been arrested several times before in connection with drunken driving and reckless endangerment, including a 2012 incident in which he was arrested for shooting several rounds from a gun across the canal that runs along the back of his property. In that case, police confiscated 27 handguns and rifles, all but four legally registered.

This time, however, Carey barricaded himself inside his home office and refused to come out, police said. The quiet block was cordoned off by police in full tactical gear and armored vehicles, according to neighbors and footage of the raid. Police then summoned Carey’s estranged wife, Darlene Carey, who did not live in the home or share in ownership of it. She told police that he had previously tossed all her clothes out of the house and she had served him with separation papers, according to court briefs.

Still, Nassau police pressed Darlene Carey to authorize the search, keeping her at the scene for hours and told her that she couldn’t leave until she signed it, the judge said in his decision to suppress the evidence.

By the time investigators finally convinced her to sign the consent form, they had already taken a battering ram to the door and had searched the home, Carman said in a court brief, though video of officers breaching the door was deleted by police. Inside, they found guns in a safe and behind a panel in the wall.

The judge ruled, after a hearing in which Darlene Carey and responding officers testified to what happened, that police should have waited for a warrant signed by a judge. They were unauthorized to enter the property under emergency circumstances, which is permitted when lives are in danger, because Paul Carey was in the house alone.

The Nassau District Attorney’s Office appealed the judge's decision, but the appellate court upheld it.

"We respect the court’s decision,” district attorney's spokeswoman Nicole Turso said in an email.

Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said at the time of Carey’s arrest that his license to own guns had been revoked after the 2012 incident.

More than half the guns seized were untraceable, homemade weapons, authorities said. Police said Carey bought the parts online and assembled them in his basement. Investigators also uncovered seven silencers, 61 high-capacity magazines and 3,000 rounds of ammunition, prosecutors said after the arrest.

Neighbors were shocked by the news that Carey’s case had been dropped.

"It’s ridiculous,” said Thomas Christ, who called police when he saw Carey shooting a handgun into the canal behind his house. "Did they at least take his guns?”

Jane Reilly, whose house Carey drove into on Oct. 30, 2020, was there when the raid happened.

"I’m floored, I’m absolutely floored that it was dismissed,” she said. "I’m disgusted by it.