The 63-year-old was sent to Essex County jail.
An attorney from Lehigh Township was in Essex County jail on Monday morning after he was found Saturday morning with a loaded semiautomatic handgun in his carry-on bag at Newark Liberty International Airport, authorities say.
Maurice Harmon, 63, of the 500 block of Walnut Drive, was charged with unlawful possession of a weapon, unlawful possession of a high-capacity magazine and unlawful possession of body-piercing bullets, Port Authority police report.
The 9mm Glock 19 with an extended magazine was detected by the Transportation Security Agency about 9:30 a.m. Saturday in a security checkpoint X-ray machine, police said.
TSA: Traveler had loaded gun at checkpoint
Harmon was ticketed to fly to Havana, Cuba.
The TSA alerted Port Authority police who took him into custody without incident and confiscated the weapon, police said. The gun was loaded with 18 hollow-point bullets, including one in the chamber, police said.
Firearms are not permitted in carry-on bags.
Bail information wasn't immediately available.
Police confirmed Harmon is an attorney with an address on Walnut Drive in the township.
A person who answered the phone Monday morning at Harmon & Seidman LLC in Colorado, the firm in which Harmon works, said she didn't know anything about his arrest and hung up.
Messages left at Harmon's local law office in New Hope, Buck County, were not immediately returned. A law partner didn't immediately respond to an email.
Harmon graduated in 1978 from the University of Detroit Law School, according to his law firm's website.
After working in the district attorney's in Grand Junction, Colorado, he formed his own firm and practiced civil and criminal law, the website says.
In 1988, he changed careers and moved to New York City to be a professional photographer, the website says. Until 2003, he shot commercial assignments for Sports Illustrated, Kmart, Rolex and Golfweek, among others, the website says. He shot photographs in Cuba, among other places, the website says.
In 2003, he resumed his law career "specializing in copywriter infringement litigation," the website says. In January 2006, along with Chris Sideman, they formed Harmon & Sideman LLC to "provide legal representation to photographers, artists and writers whose copyrights had been infringed," the website said.
Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.