diff --git a/src/NimBLECharacteristic.cpp b/src/NimBLECharacteristic.cpp
index 6b24b47e..e7f785bf 100644
--- a/src/NimBLECharacteristic.cpp
+++ b/src/NimBLECharacteristic.cpp
@@ -266,10 +266,10 @@ int NimBLECharacteristic::handleGapEvent(uint16_t conn_handle, uint16_t attr_han
         NIMBLE_LOGW(LOG_TAG, "Conn_handle (%d) is above the maximum value (%d)", conn_handle, BLE_HCI_LE_CONN_HANDLE_MAX);
         return BLE_ATT_ERR_INVALID_HANDLE;
     }
-    
+
     const ble_uuid_t *uuid;
     int rc;
-    struct ble_gap_conn_desc desc;
+    struct ble_gap_conn_desc desc{};
     NimBLECharacteristic* pCharacteristic = (NimBLECharacteristic*)arg;
 
     NIMBLE_LOGD(LOG_TAG, "Characteristic %s %s event", pCharacteristic->getUUID().toString().c_str(),
@@ -279,8 +279,7 @@ int NimBLECharacteristic::handleGapEvent(uint16_t conn_handle, uint16_t attr_han
     if(ble_uuid_cmp(uuid, &pCharacteristic->getUUID().getNative()->u) == 0){
         switch(ctxt->op) {
             case BLE_GATT_ACCESS_OP_READ_CHR: {
-                rc = ble_gap_conn_find(conn_handle, &desc);
-                assert(rc == 0);
+                ble_gap_conn_find(conn_handle, &desc);
 
                  // If the packet header is only 8 bytes this is a follow up of a long read
                  // so we don't want to call the onRead() callback again.
@@ -317,8 +316,8 @@ int NimBLECharacteristic::handleGapEvent(uint16_t conn_handle, uint16_t attr_han
                     len += next->om_len;
                     next = SLIST_NEXT(next, om_next);
                 }
-                rc = ble_gap_conn_find(conn_handle, &desc);
-                assert(rc == 0);
+
+                ble_gap_conn_find(conn_handle, &desc);
                 pCharacteristic->setValue(buf, len);
                 pCharacteristic->m_pCallbacks->onWrite(pCharacteristic);
                 pCharacteristic->m_pCallbacks->onWrite(pCharacteristic, &desc);