Armed shoplifter at Riverhead Walmart held on $300,000 cash bail

The Kings Park man arrested on weapons and shoplifting charges at the Riverhead Walmart yesterday was held on $300,000 bail after his initial arraignment in Riverhead Justice Court this morning.

Nicholas Kieltyka, 30, is facing multiple felony weapons possession charges after Walmart security saw him attempting to remove ammunition and other items from the Route 58 discount store yesterday shortly before 5 p.m., according to Riverhead Police.

Kieltyka had a Microtech brand ultratech switchblade in his right hand, police said. He also had a loaded Heckler & Koch .40 caliber semi-automatic handgun in a holster on his waist when police took him into custody, according to charges read aloud in court by Justice Richard Ehlers. He also had on his person a high-capacity magazine loaded with .40 caliber rounds.

When officers searched Kieltyka’s vehicle, they discovered a Bushmaster AR15 .223 caliber 5.56 millimeter assault weapon and numerous 30-round magazines in the vehicle, according to the charges read in court. The weapon had a pistol grip, muzzle grip and telescoping stock.

Riverhead Police said Kieltyka had no permit to carry a concealed handgun in New York. He also has no prior criminal history, police said.

Kieltyka, who stands 6 feet, 2 inches tall, played baseball for Smithtown High School and Siena College. He was a pitcher who majored in marketing and management at Siena, according to the school’s athletic department website. In high school, he was an all-league player and a Suffolk Zone Award recipient, graduating from Smithtown in 2002. Since graduating from Siena in 2006, Kieltyka has held six different sales positions, according to his Linked-In profile.

His Pinterest account boards are devoted to guns, assault weapons, knives and survival gear.  He has one board devoted to the Heckler & Koch .40 caliber semi-automatic handgun he carried into Walmart yesterday. He describes the HK P2000 as “My EDC/go to pistol” and boasts that he has a “Bravo Concealment holster for which it be OWB [outside waistband] or IWB [inside waistband].” His other boards are titled “Nice Rifles,” “Knives,” “Nice Handguns,” “Holster Ideas,”  “Shooting Gear I Use,” “Cool Sh-t,” “Outdoor Gear I Have” and “Outdoor Gear I Want.” On his wish lists are items such as “tactical fighting” and “combat” knives and an “infrared tactical hood.”

Police officers responding to the call yesterday said Kieltyka was trying to steal two boxes of ammunition, a box of Firestarters and a couple of other small items from the store.

The defendant, dressed in a sweater, jeans and boots, was led into the courtroom with his hands cuffed behind his back. He did not have an attorney to represent him during the proceeding, which was attended by his parents and an unidentified young woman who cried as the judge read the charges against him. Kieltyka raised his eyebrows and nodded at them as he was led out of the courtroom by police, to be transported to the Suffolk County Correctional Facility until he is brought back to court tomorrow.

Kieltyka told the court he lives in an apartment with his girlfriend in Kings Park, though the “address on my driver’s license is my parents’ house in St. James.” The court did not inquire into the man’s employment status.

After Kieltyka was led out of the courtroom by police, his father asked if the amount of bail could be reduced. The judge told him that would be addressed tomorrow. The father also told the judge his son “is on four different medicines,” but Ehlers told him the sheriff’s office would sort that out.

Kieltyka’s parents declined a reporter’s request for comment.

Kieltyka was charged with criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, 12 counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, criminal possession of a firearm, criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree, and petit larceny.

<strong>Editor’s note: A criminal charge is an accusation. By law, a person charged with a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.</strong>