Adam Sandler's father-in-law arrested for carrying loaded gun into Florida courthouse
The former member of the Florida House of Representatives and the father-in-law of comic actor Adam Sandler has been arrested for smuggling a loaded gun into the Broward courthouse in downtown Fort Lauderdale in his briefcase. The incident reportedly happened on Thursday, August 26, when a courthouse security checkpoint informed authorities that Joseph Titone had a Colt .38 Special revolver with him.
But maintaining his innocence, the 75-year-old father of Jackie Sandler said it was “an accident” and the gun was in his bag because of botched plans to go to a neighboring gun range. He told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, “It was an accident. Evidently I put this gun in my briefcase at one point, intending to take it to the gun range, but that never happened. I forgot it was there.”
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According to reports, when Titone was caught at the checkpoint, his gun was filled with six bullets. In his defense, the comic actor’s father-in-law said that the weapon had probably been in the briefcase before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. After his arrest, he was slapped with the unlicensed carrying of a concealed firearm charge, which is a third-degree felony, the police report said.
Though Titone claimed that an official charge has not been pressed against him yet, he believes that the matter is not fading anytime soon. He stated, “I’ll probably have to go to court to explain it, and I will. This was an honest mistake.” The Broward State Attorney’s Office will now decide whether to file a formal criminal case against him or not.
However, this was not the first time Titone has had legal troubles. Earlier, the former three-term legislator was banned from the law after he was charged with neglecting clients in two cases. A 1992 report by The Sun-Sentinel said that he “had been suspended by The Bar after pleading guilty to perjury and unlawful compensation; he was sentenced to a year suspended jail sentence and four years' probation. He was also required to stop practicing law for five years. He had been a Bar member since 1975.”
Meanwhile, no comment has been made yet by Adam or Titone’s daughter Jackie on the matter. The pair exchanged vows in June 2003 after the actress converted to Judaism, and share two daughters, Sadie (born May 2006) and Sunny (born November 2008) together. In an interview to Huffington Post, the 52-year-old Adam had once said, “My kids give me the most joy, but there are life adjustments. I don’t go out to meet anyone after 9.30 at night. I eat dinner at six or seven. If someone makes me stay out until 10.30 at night, I’m angry the entire next day because I’m exhausted.”
He also once spoke about how supportive his wife is when he has to film a love scene. Adam claimed, “My wife is always saying, 'Just get in there. Do a good job. Be nice.' My wife loves the women I work with, so she's very like, 'Come on! Make sure you [do] the best you can. Give it up. It looks crazy when you don't kiss good enough.' I'm very relieved when we do a movie and at the end of the script I go, 'I don't have to kiss anyone!' Anyway, that's fantastic. But when I do, I get it done. I get it done.”