Former Amesbury woman gets jail time for leaving loaded gun on street

Mar. 22—AMESBURY — Roughly 18 months after a former Pine Street resident left a loaded handgun on her street, a Newburyport District Court judge sentenced her to 18 months behind bars Monday after pleading guilty to multiple gun-related charges.

Melissa Uva, 29, now of Riverdale, California, burst into tears as court officers led her from the courtroom to begin her sentence.

Minutes earlier, she pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm without a license, possessing ammunition without an FID card, and improper storage of a high-capacity firearm. On Friday, other firearms charges, including possession of a large-capacity firearm, were dropped, according to court records.

Amesbury police responded to Pine Street on Nov. 11, 2020, about 8:30 a.m. after a person found a handgun near where the street meets California Street. The handgun, a 9mm Lugar pistol, was found outside 1 Pine St. where Uva lived. Pine Street is off Market Street, just after the Market Street/South Hampton Road split.

"The handgun had one round in the chamber, the hammer was cocked to the rear," Officer Nathan Basque wrote in his report. "The handgun also had 12 additional rounds remaining in the 15-round magazine (large capacity)."

Sgt. David Noyes then called the dispatch and learned the gun had not been reported stolen.

Once the gun was secured in a cruiser, police began knocking on doors to locate its owner. Sgt. Charles Sciacca and Officer Scott Peters knocked on Uva's door.

When told that a handgun had been found on the ground near her car, Uva admitted that it belonged to her. Uva also told police that she recently moved to Amesbury from Seabrook and bought the gun in New Hampshire. She was temporarily staying with her mother in Amesbury before heading to California.

"Melissa stated that last night around 10 p.m., she went into her vehicle to get laundry that needed to be washed. The laundry was in a suitcase, which the handgun was also stored in. Melissa stated that the handgun must have fallen out of the suitcase onto the sidewalk and went unnoticed," Basque wrote in his report.

Uva then opened her car door and showed officers her holster for the gun, a fully loaded magazine and a box of 46 rounds. Police took those items and placed them, along with the Lugar, in a cruiser and locked it.

Instead of arresting the cooperative Uva, police issued her a summons to appear in district court. Back at the station, police learned that a few months earlier, officers found two 9mm bullets in her purse.

"No firearm was located on this call," Basque wrote in this report.

Dave Rogers is a reporter with the Daily News of Newburyport. Email him at: drogers@newburyportnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @drogers41008.

Dave Rogers is a reporter with the Daily News of Newburyport. Email him at: drogers@newburyportnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @drogers41008.