Posted on 09/16/2002 7:24:13 PM PDT by tarawa
Owners may not get guns back
By JIM DALGLEISH / H-P City Editor
SODUS - None of the 36 guns seized in February at a Sodus Township home were illegal, federal authorities say, but the owners still may not get them back.
Because police found less than a half-ounce of marijuana, the U.S. Attorney's Office has launched civil forfeiture proceedings to keep the guns and 28,359 rounds of ammunition, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Delaney said from his Grand Rapids office. He said felony criminal charges could follow if prosecutors conclude the owners lied on gun registration forms when answering standard questions about possible drug use.
Tricia Carrie-LaVanway Bauer, who owns the guns with her father, David LaVanway, and her husband, Blaine, said the marijuana possession was a fluke, a one-time occurrence.
"Just one time, and they're going to take 36 guns away? C'mon ...," she said.
She said that the guns are worth between $25,000 and $30,000 and that authorities seized only 8,000 rounds with bullets. The rest were primers.
"Eight-thousand rounds isn't much when it's divided by (36) guns," she said.
All 36 guns were fully registered and were often used in gun safety training, LaVanway Bauer said. The Bauers say they are gun instructors, with certifications from the National Rifle Association and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
LaVanway Bauer said the couple cannot teach gun safety without firearms.
Police found a small amount of marijuana in her purse when her car was stopped Feb. 26 at Hillandale and Watson roads in Sodus Township.
The then-Coloma schools substitute bus driver pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of having carried the drugs in a school zone. Coloma's bus garage is next to the high school. The drug charge cost her the job.
She said she had never failed a state-mandated bus driver drug test.
During the home raid, authorities seized 0.42 ounces of marijuana from David LaVanway's bedroom. The amount would make no more than three joints, she said.
She said her father had not used marijuana for years and had been given the drugs by a friend who occasionally stops by the house.
She said her father was not a drug user when he registered six guns about seven years ago through the Berrien County Sheriff's Department.
The Bauers and LaVanway live in the house, which sits on 3.2 acres along Lett Road in a rural part of the township. LaVanway Bauer said her grandmother owns the house.
She said surrounding property owners for years have tried to buy the house so they could divide up the property, and her family's refusal to sell may have prompted neighbors to fabricate stories for police.
Neighbors first called the sheriff's department in March 2001 to report automatic gunfire, drug sales and militia activity, according to an affidavit by Special Agent James Walsh of the federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms.
Other people quoted in the report alleged they saw automatic weapons, a silencer - an illegal gun accessory - a large truck with marijuana and human-shaped targets.
But investigators found no evidence to support those claims, Delaney said.
LaVanway Bauer said there was no evidence because no such things were ever at the home.
Much of ATF agent Walsh's report is drawn from sheriff's Detective Lt. David Chandler's interviews with four people, identified in Walsh's report only as "concerned neighbor" or "confidential source."
LaVanway Bauer said the anonymity of the sources is irksome.
"I think they (the sources) should have to come out," she said. "They have destroyed our lives over a bunch of gossip."
She said county and federal authorities needed only to knock on their door to inspect their guns, house and land. Instead, they sought federal warrants and performed a full-fledged raid Feb. 26.
Blaine Bauer was arrested nearby as he was driving home in his tow truck. Police found a handgun behind his seat.
LaVanway Bauer said the gun was registered, legally carried and contained no rounds. Bauer used the gun for shooting behind the tow truck service's garage while waiting for calls.
Nonetheless, he pleaded no contest to a concealed weapons charge and was sentenced to one year's probation. The charge could be dismissed if he meets probation terms.
Assistant Berrien County Prosecutor Caryn Hebets said testimony showed the gun was accessible for Bauer from the driver's seat and that it was not properly cased. Hebets said Bauer told the court he had the gun in the truck for four or five days.
For trucks, state law says a gun must be in a locked case designed for guns, the ammunition must be kept separate, and the gun can only be carried directly to and from shooting ranges.
"You can't carry it around in your vehicle indefinitely," Hebets said.
That was sorta a useless statement. How did the authorities know they would cooperate? They did what they needed to do to search the area, otherwise they risked tipping off their search.
Tip to people, don't think any amount of drugs are a "fluke". Treat drugs as carefully as you do your guns, cause the two don't mix too well in court.
Tip to people: Sometimes the police bring "evidence" with them to justify the raid. Always be suspicious when the police and the courts stand to profit from the siezure of your property.
Before you get too tinfoilly on me, remember they do not deny the drugs in this case. Please keep it to the facts here and now without reaching the twilight zone for a defense. This was a person caught with drugs within a school zone (and probable drove a school bus full of kids btw).
Nearly a half-ounce (14 grams?) only makes three joints? She makes a mean joint!
methinks the reporter got something wrong....
This is TOTAL BULL$$%T ..... crap like this was why we rebelled against England.
Now before yall get to hot and bothered with me, let me add this tidbit. I don't know the particulars of the law in this state, but if the law only permits seizures of property (guns in this case) of cases with amounts of over 1/2 ounce, then I believe they should be returned to the owners. I ain't for bending the rules cause it was close. Again I would have to be better informed on the laws in this case, but if it says over 1/2 ounce then 1/2 ounce is what it should be. It is not right to bend the law that way.
There's nothing "tinfoilly" about the Constitution. If somebody is found guilty of breaking the law, let the court justly punish them with imprisonment or fines. But I am opposed to this legalized plunder, by which government steals the property of its citizens.
Many government agencies now include the net proceeds from asset forfeitures as line items in their budgets, revealing just how important this practice has become. That property siezure has become such a profitable enterprise leads me to question the motives for so many searches and raids. Is it the drugs they're after, or the property they might sieze?
Saddest of all to me is the corruption which has been institutionalized by asset forfeiture. All of the officials on whom we depend for justice -- police, judges and elected officials -- have a vested interest in siezing the property of citizens. Each stands to collect his cut from the liquidated proceeds, yet we expect them to do the right thing...
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