A Huntington couple pleaded not guilty to illegal weapons possession and conspiracy charges Tuesday after prosecutors say they were storing a cache of weapons for their gang member son.

Investigators say Kathryn Smith ran a day care center out of her home at 6 Lantern St., which she shares with her husband David. Last month, the district attorney?s office searched her home and found tactical shotguns, a loaded semi-automatic handgun and another handgun with the serial number filed off, according to prosecutors. Officials say they also found a bulletproof vest and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. All the items were inside a laundry bag, District Attorney Thomas Spota says.

Spota says police were tipped off by a confidential source. According to detectives, the couple?s son Anthony Sands, a reputed Bloods gang member, asked his parents to hold on to the laundry bag while he was in jail on unrelated charges. The Smiths? attorney says the couple never looked inside.

The district attorney says he doesn?t buy it.

?If you put all of this in a laundry bag do you not think there were weapons inside? What did they think there was, apples and bananas? No,? Spota says.

The state suspended Smith?s license and temporarily closed the Just in Time day care center.

The district attorney?s office is having the weapons tested to see if they were used in any crimes. The Smiths face up to seven years behind bars if found guilty on the weapons charges. They are due back in court June 8.