A 41-year-old Carson City man was arrested on five felony weapons charges and one gross misdemeanor of child neglect and danger after allegedly living in the Children's Museum and stockpiling weapons.
According to the arrest report, deputies were dispatched to the Children’s Museum on report of a 2-year-old child in need of supervision. Dispatch advised that this was the second time deputies were responding to an incident involving the parent, Wilbert Calhoun, and the child, and that Calhoun was “highly agitated” and known to have firearms.
According to the report, the child had traveled across E. Ann Street, located between N. Carson Street and N. Plaza Street, which experience heavy traffic.
Several deputies arrived on scene and located Calhoun. While speaking with him, he told deputies that he and his family “do not live in the museum.”
Deputies spoke with one of the child’s older siblings, who stated that the child had found a way out of the museum while everyone was watching a movie. When deputies asked for her address, the sister stated they lived in the museum.
A board member for the museum arrived on scene, and deputies escorted him through the museum. Deputies observed several signs of people living inside the museum, including bags of clothes, personal belongings, food, dishes, sleeping bags, blankets, and two mattresses. It was not noted exactly how many people were believed to have been residing there.
According to board members for the Children's Museum, Calhoun and his wife, who acted as the museum's manager, had five children between them.
Outside the building, deputies spoke with Calhoun and informed him that due to him not having supervision over the child, he had placed the child in danger since the child “could have been hit by a car, kidnapped, or traveled into many other foreseeable dangers,” and that he was “lucky a business owner found (the child).”
While transporting Calhoun to the jail, deputies received a call from a board member still on scene at the Children’s Museum, who stated they found “at least two guns and marijuana in a storage room.”
Deputies arrived back to the museum and asked to be taken “to the area with all the firearms,” according to the report. Deputies were led to a hardware room next to a children’s arts and crafts room.
The room was not locked and “could easily be accessed by a wandering child,” according to the report.
Deputies asked the manager if Calhoun lives inside the museum, and the manager stated he did not, and that he is the janitor for the museum.
Inside the storage room, deputies located a computer with a paused video game that appeared to have been recently played. Inside the storage room area deputies located three handguns, one AR-style pistol, and a short barrel AK-47.
Deputies also located several other weapons and drug-related material including:
Three of the board's members spoke with Carson Now regarding the incident on Friday afternoon.
"It was incredibly shocking," said Board President Nathan Tobey. "There was definitely a sense of betrayal, especially because (Calhoun's Wife) had been doing such a great job as manager."
The Board last met on June 5 at the Museum, during which time they stated that nothing seemed amiss. Contrary to what the arrest report stated, the board members said that the area Calhoun and his family appeared to be living in, along with the area with weapons stockpiled, would not have been easily accessible to the public.
The area where the weapons and make-shift living space were discovered, they said, were located underneath the stage area, behind a door on a separate floor than the main children's floor, which was always locked during operating hours.
However, another individual who wished to remain anonymous denied this, stating that the room that was found to contain the weapons was never locked and could have been accessed by the public.
The board believes that the family living on the premises must have been a recent development, since no board members nor any other employee had seen anything amiss during operating hours or board meetings.
The board members also had no explanation as to why Calhoun would have been storing so many weapons at the museum.
"He has no criminal record that we know of," said Board Member Casey Gillis. "All of our employees are vetted by a professional company."
They also agreed that the work of Calhoun's wife as manager had been exemplary, which added to their shock to discover the family had been secretly living inside the museum.
In fact, when board members received the call that the deputies were on scene at the museum, the manager was with the board members at a fundraiser.
The board also mentioned that there had been no behavioral issues or complaints reported against either of the employees from members of the public or other employees/volunteers.
Since learning of the instances surrounding Calhoun's arrest, both husband and wife have been terminated from their employment.
"We want the community to know that we take this very, very seriously," said Board Member Jeff Erickson.
"We want the community to feel safe here, and we want to feel safe here," said Tobey. "We will work to regain the public's trust."
In addition to the sweep of the building that occurred Thursday evening and Friday morning, Tobey requested a canine sweep from the Sheriff's Office.
Gillis added that the museum will be closed next week while there is a thorough cleaning of the facility, as well as to allow the board time to find a new manager for the museum.
At the jail, Calhoun did not relay to deputies why he had stockpiled the weapons found. Calhoun is being held on a bail of $42,500.
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