Port Charlotte man arrested for guns in home, known for confrontations

Reporter: Erika Jackson Writer: Jack Lowenstein
Published: Updated:
Mugshot of Ian McGuire from previous arrest in 2016. (Credit: CCSO booking photo)

Sheriff’s deputies and FBI agents raided a Port Charlotte man’s home.

Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI arrested Ian McGuire and removed dozens of guns and ammunition from his home Thursday.

“Neighbors are concerned,” Gary Snow said. “Citizens of this county, of this town are concerned,”

McGuire has a history with local agencies in the county. He was found to have posted dozens of videos of his encounters and confrontations with law enforcement officers on YouTube back in 2017.

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The FBI did not share information about the open investigation into McGuire. But the sheriff’s office old us McGuire had guns in plain sight within his home, which is a violation of a protection order issued earlier this year against McGuire for stalking.

Deputies found around 30 handguns and cases of ammo at his home on Westlund Terrace in Port Charlotte.

“I feel like they need to take care of what’s going on and take action,” neighbor Xaimayra Sevilla-Cruz said.

McGuire also faces new charges stemming from an April incident, where Charlotte County deputies say McGuire interfered with a felony battery investigation and taunted witnesses with a camera.

“Videotaping them,” said Katie Heck, public information officer of Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office. “And at their request several times, they asked him to stop.”

Additional charges are pending against McGuire now that law enforcement found the weapons in his home. Nearby homeowners said this was an eye-opening experience.

“It makes me a little uneasy,” Sevilla-Cruz said. “And makes me want to protect my kids more.”

McGuire is in Charlotte County jail with no set bond, scheduled to appear in court Friday.

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