Brent Nicholson, S.C. man, arrested, accused of hoarding 7,000+ guns

An arsenal of stolen weapons, including thousands of guns and hundreds of chainsaws, have been recovered by authorities near Pageland, South Carolina.

Police said they were serving a subpoena to 51-year-old Brent Nicholson on Friday for unrelated drug charges when officers spotted chainsaws and a welder, which had been reported stolen days earlier, “in plain sight” outside of his residence.

“They went to a judge and got a search warrant and went back to the house and found literally thousands of guns,” Chesterfield County Sheriff Jay Brooks told The Observer. “They secured the scene and called everybody in.”

Authorities say they’ve seized between 7,000 and 10,000 stolen guns from the man’s house near Highway 9, along with a trove of other goods including ammunition, 500 chainsaws, 4-wheelers and taxidermy supplies. Warrants were also obtained for nearby property owned either by Nicholson or his family.

“There were so many guns we quit counting after a while,” Sheriff Brooks added.

Mr. Nicholson has been charged with possession of stolen property, Charlotte NBC News affiliate reported.

More than 100 law enforcement officials from Chesterfield County and the surrounding area began taking inventory of the cache over the weekend. Sheriff Brooks said 20 agents will pick through the goods “piece by piece” beginning on Monday with the goal of returning the stolen weapons to their rightful owners.

Deputies told local reporters that they estimate roughly 99 percent of the seized weapons had been stolen, and the majority of those were either hunting rifles or shotguns.

Officials don’t believe Mr. Nicholson had stolen the weapons himself, however, but likely built-up the arsenal with the help from others over time.

“None of us have ever seen anything anywhere close to this,” Sheriff Brooks told WBTV News. “No telling how many break-ins this will help wrap up.”

“There’s no evidence that he even used them,” he added. “There’s no evidence that he was selling them — he just wanted them. His house looked like that hoarders program on TV,” the sheriff said.

As of Saturday, authorities had filled four 40-foot tractor-trailers with items taken from Mr. Nicholson, including guns, crossbows, elk and alligator heads and air compressors, the Observer reported.