On April 10, 2023, at approximately 1:40 p.m., an off-duty state environmental conservation police officer was leaving Walmart in Oneida and walking to his personal vehicle when he noticed a vehicle parked next to him occupied by two males. The officer observed the male passenger in the vehicle had a silver handgun and magazines on his lap. As the vehicle began to leave, the officer contacted the Oneida Police Department to report the incident and vehicle license plate number.
A vehicle and subject description were communicated to Madison County 911 and other police agencies in the area by Oneida City Police Officer Sarah Paul. The Madison County 911 immediately determined the vehicle was reported stolen to the Oneida Nation Police, and a be-on-the-lookout was issued for the vehicle and the occupants. Oneida City Police Officer Tom Lenning alerted patrols that he may have dealt with one of the suspects at Walmart Plaza in Oneida earlier in the day and suggested having patrols check an address on Genesee Street in Chittenango for the vehicle.
Trooper Michael Petrie, who was in the area, responded to the address and observed the stolen vehicle parked in the driveway with one of the suspects – later identified as 52-year-old Robert M. Mothersell, Jr., of Syracuse – inside the vehicle; the other suspect – later identified as Daniel J. Carlisle, 46, of Chittenango – was standing outside the vehicle.
During a search of the vehicle, Petrie located a semiautomatic .380 pistol in the vehicle. As officers arrived on the scene to assist troopers, they ultimately located the silver Remington 1911 semiautomatic pistol inside Carlisle’s apartment that was initially observed inside the vehicle by the off-duty ECO.
Troopers subsequently arrested Mothersell on charges of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, a class C felony; third-degree unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, both class A misdemeanors.
Carlisle was charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, a class C felony.
The pair were arraigned and remanded to the Madison County Jail without bail.
State police were assisted at the scene by the Oneida City Police Department, the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, the state Environmental Conservation Police, the Chittenango Police Department and the Oneida Nation Police.