Son Of State Police Colonel Faces Improper Storage Of Firearm Charges

BARNSTABLE, MA — The son of the Massachusetts State Police colonel will be charged with improperly storing firearms, Lawrence District Court Clerk-Magistrate Keith McDonough ruled Tuesday in Barnstable District Court.

Reid Mason, 22, of West Barnstable, will be summoned back to court to face those charges at a later date as McDonough found probable cause to issue a complaint.

On Feb. 18, Barnstable officers found Mason slumped over the wheel of his car in a parking lot in Hyannis a little after midnight.

Responding officers identified him as a Truro firefighter and the son of State Police Colonel Christopher Mason and asked him if he needed medical attention. Mason refused - and officers said he responded by telling them he was just sleeping.

According to Barnstable Police Department Lt. Joseph Green, officers mentioned the "overwhelming smell of alcohol coming from the Jeep" and Mason's "red glassy eyes and disoriented behavior."

Officers then found five firearms in the front right passenger area, with an assortment of cases of ammunition inside two backpacks, Green said.

"Based on my opinion of Mason's sobriety, I believe he lost the ability to exercise control over the firearms located inside of the vehicle," an officer wrote in the report.

The responding officers did not arrest Mason at the time and instead handed him over to the district attorney's office.

"Colonel Mason has not and will not seek any involvement or influence over the independent judicial process involving a member of his family," a state police spokesperson wrote in a statement. "Furthermore, he will appropriately refrain from any further public statement on this pending matter."

Mason, who has no police record, was let go on his own recognizance Tuesday and an unidentified "family member" drove him home.

Mason's attorney, Peter Lloyd, initially tried to ask McDonough to defer the charges for a year under the pretenses that the officers never conducted field sobriety checks, left out key details in their description of the car and that Mason complied with police with no issue.