Cooing over baby in park leads to arrest

Fri., July 8, 2011

A man prohibited from possessing firearms was arrested with a gun in a Spokane cemetery last weekend after confessing his love to a baby and asking if he could be her “Uncle Bob,” police say.

The child’s mother was at the Fairmount Memorial Park, 5200 W. Wellesley Ave., with her infant daughter and a friend when a man with two dogs approached, rubbed her shoulder and picked up the baby from her stroller without permission, according to court documents.

The suspect, later identified as Robert F. Asterino Jr., 46, held the child for several minutes before becoming distracted by a couple approaching with their own dogs, according to police. When he bent over to place the baby back in her stroller, the woman observed the handle of a handgun in his waistband.

Spokane police used a search warrant to recover from Asterino’s 1968 Chevy pickup a 9mm Glock gun with 16 rounds in the magazine, as well as an extra bullet. He was booked into jail on a charge of unlawful possession of a firearm, which was later dismissed.

This story has been updated from its published version. A reference to an earlier felony conviction in New Mexico was deleted after Asterino provided evidence that the charge had been reduced to a petty misdemeanor. Also, information of the dismissal of the firearm charge was added.

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