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Posted on 08/24/2007 3:25:01 AM PDT by csvset
Published 08/21/2007 By JIM WOZNIAK
A former Erwin Tennessee Wildlife Resources officer accused of pocketing some of the proceeds from the sale of two guns he seized is asking prosecutors to show him some leniency.
Victor Deyton, 39, 110 Horton Ridge Road, will ask the district attorney general’s office to give him pretrial diversion, his attorney, Bob Green, told Criminal Court Judge Lynn Brown on Monday.
If that form of diversion is granted, Deyton would be placed on probation before his guilt or innocence is determined. If he successfully completes probation, his charges would be dismissed and expunged.
District Attorney General Tony Clark said Deyton is accused of contacting Josh Williams, from whom he had properly seized the guns in late fall 2005, and offering on April 22, 2006, to sell them back to him.
Williams later paid Deyton, who kept some of the money and sent the rest of it to the TWRA, he said. Deyton forged the man’s signature on TWRA receipts and listed only the amount of money he was sending to the state, not the actual sales price, Clark said. Green said last month that he thinks the total amount that is involved in this case is about $150.
Deyton, a longtime TWRA worker who was stationed in Unicoi County, is charged with one count of official misconduct and two counts of forgery. In July, Green entered a not-guilty plea on behalf of his client, who was working in North Carolina for his new employer, CSX Railroad.
Green said he is seeking pretrial diversion because Deyton had an “unblemished reputation” before this incident arose. He said his client “may or may not have committed an error in judgment on one occasion.” He calls this matter “a huge tempest in a teapot” that revolves around a possible failure to document a confiscated gun sale properly.
“He’s a perfect candidate for pretrial diversion,” the lawyer said in an interview. “This is precisely the situation where pretrial diversion is appropriate.”
Clark makes the call on pretrial diversion.
“I’d say that it’ll be opposed because of his former job title and position of trust,” Assistant District Attorney General Mark Hill said after Deyton appeared in Unicoi County Criminal Court.
Should Clark deny the request, that would not be Deyton’s last option in trying to get the charge wiped from his record. He could plead guilty or be found guilty at a trial and still seek judicial diversion, which also would remove the case from his record if he completed his probation.
Now I'm wondering if the firearms in question really were “properly seized” or if this guy was running a racket on the side.
Also, didn't the inestimable Michael Nifong have an “unblemished reputation” before he went off the rails?
WTF? The guy doesn't even have the cojones to admit that he stole the money, yet he wants to society to forgive him and pretend it never happened?
Ah, no. Not the way it works. Admit your wrongdoing, ask for forgiveness, and accept what's given to you. If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.
You sniveling, whiny, immature crybaby.
My guess that the guy has probably something similar in the past.
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On a somewhat related issue I remember seeing a large collection of pocket knives that were seized that included Chris Reeves Sabenzas and other expensive custom knives. Later read that they were sold by the lb as scrap.
What a scumbag! If you or I did this we’d likely be facing felony charges and “pound you in the a$$ prison” time.
He stole guns, then sold them back to the original owner.
Absolutely disgusting.
The state is the bandit in this story and just doesn’t want to share the cut with its hired gun.
And what a racket. “Seizing” guns and selling them on the street, forging documents for a discounted sale and pocketing the difference.
I’d be willing to bet there are other officers in TWR who practice this as a routine, probably in cahoots with a small network of cooperative buyers. It’s probably not the first time for this guy either, but it seems as though he picked the wrong buyer - perhaps one who was aware of the practice and wanted to set him up.
But I wouldn’t want to suggest a broader investigation, that would be up to the good people of Tennessee.
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