A freaky firearms nut was sentenced yesterday to only six months jail –and could be out in just two weeks — despite getting caught with three illegal guns at his Midtown hotel room in January.
Accountant Fred Vankirk, 59, of Columbus, OH, was busted after trying to “hug” two Radisson Hotel room service waitresss. One of them told cops she saw a black handgun on the bed.
Vankirk could have faced a mandatory minimum of 3 1/2 years prison for possessing guns that are not registered in New York, but he’d been living at the hotel, and the state’s tough gun possession law makes allowance for guns held in a person’s residence.
“He’ll prob. get out in about 2 weeks,” with time already served taken into account, said his lawyer, Curtis Farber.
A waitress at the hotel had told cops that when she brought breakfast to Vankirk’s 17th floor room he got down on one knee, proposed marriage to her, and tried to hug her, all after telling her, “Don’t worry, if anyone ever tries to hurt you I’ll kill them.”
Prosecutors had asked for one year jail for Vankirk; Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Rena Uviller gave him half that.