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Search Warrant Uncovers Secret Arsenal In Bowels Of Michigan School Bus Drivers' Home

DAVISON TOWNSHIP (WWJ) - Two Flint-area school bus drivers will be back in court this week, accused of embezzling thousands of dollars to buy a stockpile of high-powered weapons.

Genesee County Sheriff Robert Pickell says officers executing a search warrant at the Davison Township home of Steven and Sarah Nick found more than 30 firearms and 17,000 rounds of ammunition — most of it stored in a "secret bunker" in the couple's basement.

steven and sarah nick
Steven and Sarah Nick (credit: Genesee County Sheriff's Office)

Pickell said Steven Nick, 33, and Sarah Nick, 32 embezzled $50,000 from the latter's 67-year-old mother to pay for the cache.

"In my 16 years as a sheriff I've never seen anything so unusual as this," Pickell told WWJ Newsradio 950's Zahra Huber. "They have more ammunition than I do, and I'm the biggest police department here in Genesee County."

Pickell said that, although most of the weapons appeared to be legal, the arsenal included an illegal AR-15 — as well as a .50 caliber sniper rifle.

Nick Weapons
Weapons confiscated from the home of Steven and Sarah Nicks (credit: Genesee County Sheriff's Office)

"They call it a 'fed gun,'" Pickell explained. "It's like when you have a belt and the bullets go through the belt...and the belt is nine yards long."

Pickell said one automatic weapon, as well as a bullet-proof vest — emblazoned with the words "Live to Die" — were found in the bedroom of the couple's 9-year-old daughter.

One more item of interest to authorities, Pickell said, indicated militia ties. "We found a Gadsden flag...and that flag is an outgrowth of the Culpeper militia, dating all the way back to the Revolution," he said.

Following an investigation that began last August, the Nicks were arrested on March 27 and charged with 15 felony counts.

They are free on bond pending a preliminary hearing set for Thursday, April 9.

Each could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

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