A quick glance at his own surveillance footage told Mel “Dragon Man” Bernstein he was the victim of an inside job.
The storied proprietor of the Dragon Man gun shop and shooting range east of Colorado Springs on Wednesday identified Jennifer Scoggin – the daughter of Bernstein’s ex-wife – as the ringleader behind an August smash-and-grab burglary in which thieves made off with 84 pistols and rifles and two machine guns.
Scoggin, 34, and her son, Camron Matthew Specht, 18, were among four people secretly indicted last month on weapons charges by a federal grand jury, records show.
The indictments – handed up on Sept. 14 – were kept sealed until Tuesday, when the first of the defendants made an initial appearance before a federal magistrate, court records show. The other two men charged in the scheme are Ryan Sharpe and Gian Carlos Vance. El Paso County prosecutors disclosed the indictment in 4th Judicial District Court Wednesday while announcing they were dropping the case against Specht and letting the federal authorities take over.
According to Bernstein, the five planned to sell the weapons to Pueblo gang members.
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