Local gun collector held for 23 days in FBI probe of prosecutor's slaying

A Bellevue gun collector was arrested and held for 23 days as a material witness in the slaying of federal prosecutor Thomas Wales, according to court records, jail logs and people familiar with the investigation.

The man is not considered a suspect in Wales' killing, but he was jailed in January as part of the FBI's nationwide search for a unique gun barrel used in the crime.

Wales was shot to death while sitting at a computer in the basement of his Queen Anne home on Oct. 11, 2001. Shell casings and slugs found at the scene and recovered from Wales' body have led FBI and Seattle police homicide investigators to focus on finding an Eastern European Makarov semiautomatic handgun equipped with a replacement barrel.

The Bellevue gun collector — who has not been charged with any crime and has since been released — came to the attention of the FBI because he is believed to have purchased two Makarov replacement barrels. He also owned several Makarov handguns, but the two barrels weren't attached to any of those guns, according to two people familiar with the probe.

One of those barrels remains unaccounted for and the collector has not explained where it went, one source said.

Agents' interest in the gun collector was piqued by the fact that he lives within a few miles of the chief suspect in the Wales slaying — a former airline pilot in Bellevue who had been prosecuted by Wales in a fraud case several years ago. No charges have been filed.

The collector is also a pilot, although investigators have turned up no indication the men know one another. The Times is not identifying the men because neither has been charged with a crime.

Eric Stahlfeld, the collector's attorney, said, "I have been assured that my client is neither a target nor a subject of this investigation." He said his client has "fully complied" with a federal grand jury subpoena issued last fall. The collector declined to comment.

Steven Clymer, the special federal prosecutor in the Wales case and chief of the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles, said yesterday he could not comment.

The investigation into Wales' killing is one of the largest ever conducted by the FBI. The Department of Justice has offered a $1 million reward for information that helps solve the case. Wales, 49, worked in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle for 18 years, and also served as president of Washington CeaseFire, a group that advocates for gun control.

Seattle police homicide investigators obtained a sealed search warrant for the collector's house on Jan. 13. In an order sealing the warrant, King County Superior Court Judge William Downing noted that the search was connected to the Wales investigation. It is not known what investigators found.

Hours later, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives searched the house on a second warrant, looking for evidence of federal firearms violations. According to the ATF search warrant, officers in the first search "observed a large number of weapons in the residence and attached garage," possibly including machine guns. Agents seized 16 weapons.

Federal Bureau of Prison records show the collector was booked into the Federal Detention Center at SeaTac on Jan. 11 and was held until Feb. 3.

The federal material-witness statute, which is used sparingly, allows agents to arrest an individual who might have information relevant to a crime if a prosecutor can demonstrate the person might flee. Court documents in other cases involving the collector indicate he routinely travels outside the country.

The unique forensic markings on the shell casings and slugs recovered from the Wales crime scene have sent the FBI on a nationwide search for replacement barrels for the Makarov, which are manufactured exclusively by Federal Arms in Minnesota. The company had made about 3,500 of the barrels before Wales was killed and, under subpoena, provided the buyers' names to federal agents. The FBI so far has tracked down and tested more than 2,500 of them.

Last August, the FBI placed a two-page advertisement in Gun News magazine asking owners of the barrels to come forward.

A source familiar with the investigation said the two barrels owned by the collector are believed to be the only ones shipped to Bellevue. One of the barrels and several Makarov handguns owned by the collector have been test-fired and did not match the ballistic evidence from the Wales crime scene. The other barrel remains unaccounted for, the source confirmed.

Investigators are trying to determine if the missing barrel was sold or provided to their prime suspect, either directly or through others.

The collector is a former gun dealer who had his federal license revoked by the ATF in 2003. Agency records say he didn't have an active commercial business as required by licensing regulations. He has appealed.

In September 2002, U.S. Customs agents seized the collector's van as he attempted to cross the U.S.-Canadian border at Blaine. They found a secret compartment under the vehicle. While it was empty at the time, according to court documents, two drug-detection dogs "alerted strongly to the outside area of the hidden compartment."

The collector told agents at the time that he had the compartment built to "safeguard his personal items" and that he'd never used it.

The van later was returned to the collector, but he has sued the government for damages.

In 1997, the documents in that lawsuit state, the ATF seized 10 weapons and parts for machine guns, all of which the collector had illegally imported from Canada. An investigative report from U.S. Customs in the court file states the collector has been suspected of arms smuggling.

FBI Rounding Up Makarovs, Barrels

by Dave Workman
Senior Editor
Gunweek

Has the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) inadvertently let slip a key piece of information in its investigation of the murder of an outspoken anti-gun federal prosecutor in Seattle, WA, in October 2001?

The FBI has, for the past several months, been quietly contacting owners of a specific type of Makarov semi-automatic pistol and taking the guns in for ballistic testing, Gun Week has learned.

Several sources, including a company that makes replacement barrels for the pistols, confirm the effort while the FBI remains mum, refusing to make any connection between the gun checks and the murder, or even acknowledging the gun round-up altogether.
But Gun Week has a copy of a subpoena that specifically asks for Makarov “pistols, barrels, magazines and aftermarket replacement barrels . . .” issued in Seattle.

One Makarov owner told Gun Week that an FBI agent said, “They were going barrel by barrel, pistol by pistol” in an effort to find the murder weapon.

Thomas C. Wales was gunned down on the evening of Oct. 11, 2001 as he sat at his computer in the basement of his home in Seattle’s fashionable Queen Anne neighborhood. In addition to his activities as a federal prosecutor, Wales was also president of Washington CeaseFire, the Evergreen State’s largest anti-gun organization, and arguably the most active gun control group on the West Coast. His killer has not been caught, and very few details about the slaying or the investigation have been released.

One key element that has never been officially disclosed is the type and caliber of firearm used in the crime. Neither the FBI, nor the Seattle Police Department has ever publicly stated what type of gun was used to kill Wales. Speculation has ranged from a magnum-caliber revolver to any number of semi-automatic pistols.

This case may be unique, because if reports from various sources are correct, the FBI is testing certain Makarovs because the killer may have used the wrong ammunition in the murder weapon.

FBI offices in Washington, DC, Seattle and Virginia would neither confirm nor deny that the guns are being sought, particularly in connection with the Wales slaying, explaining that the agency does not discuss on-going investigations. However, Makarov owners in several states have confirmed that the FBI has tested their guns, and that in some cases, agents have stated the tests are in connection with a homicide investigation. At least one gunowner indicated that the agent who contacted him did specifically mention the Wales investigation.

That individual notified other Makarov owners in an e-mail posted on May 7: “If you bought your barrel after October 12, 2001 (the date of the murder) you probably won’t be contacted.”

Several Makarov owners have discussed the investigation on the Internet, and have indicated that the FBI has been sometimes showing up unannounced at their homes, asking for their guns.

The FBI apparently located Makarov owners using information obtained by subpoena from a Minnesota-based importer, Federal Arms Corporation (FAC). They are specifically testing pistols that were fitted with FAC-manufactured replacement barrels either chambered in .380 ACP or 9x18. Imported Makarovs originally were chambered for the 9x18 Makarov cartridge, but many of those pistols were re-barreled to accept the .380-caliber cartridge. FAC makes replacement Makarov barrels in both calibers, a company source confirmed.

The subpoena supplied to Gun Week specifically sought guns and barrels “. . . to include any and all Makarov 9x18mm aftermarket barrels you purchased from Federal Arms Corporation, Incorporated.”

So serious is the investigation that the subpoena further demanded, “If you no longer possess a Makarov pistol(s) or FAC after-market barrel(s), you are hereby commanded to provide any and all records/information as to whom the pistol(s) and barrel(s) were sold/transferred to, including all identifying information relating to the purchasers/transferees.”

Wrong Ammunition?
One source indicated that investigators may be focusing on pistols with the 9x18-caliber replacement barrels in which the killer may have used .380-caliber ammunition. This would be very unusual, because the two cartridges are not interchangeable. The 9x18 is larger in diameter and slightly longer, and fires a slightly larger bullet, .364-inch instead of the .380’s smaller .355-inch projectile. A ballistics expert who formerly worked for the Dallas Police Department told Gun Week that it might be possible to fire a .380 in a 9x18-caliber barrel, but the “bullet would rattle down the bore” and the gun might not function properly in the process, meaning that the action may not reliably cycle to eject spent casings.

He also suggested that it would be nearly impossible to get a ballistics match on two such bullets fired from the same gun. Yet sources speculated that it may be that very rifling pattern—on the wrong caliber bullet fired through the wrong barrel—that the FBI may be trying to reproduce.

Wales was shot several times, and was struck at least once in the neck, according to published reports.

It was initially theorized that the killer might be someone in the gun rights movement wanting to silence Wales, who has been portrayed as a strong voice for gun restrictions. Gun rights activists bristled at the notion, demanding some evidence. None was ever produced. Since his death, Washington CeaseFire has capitalized on the case in an effort to raise funds.

The FBI and Seattle police initially were conducting a joint investigation, but now the case has been turned over completely to the FBI, a Seattle police source said.

Months ago, Gun Week learned from a law enforcement source that shell casings had apparently been recovered from the crime scene. The Seattle Times has reported that the FBI had focused its investigation on an unidentified commercial pilot living in Bellevue, a city just east of Seattle. Wales had prosecuted the pilot, who reportedly was a gunowner, for a crime that had nothing to do with firearms.

Gun rights activists who knew Wales have noted that while the late prosecutor was virtually canonized by the media as a pillar of the community, a loving divorced father, and a fair-handed professional, he had a “dark side” as an hysterical gun control extremist. Whether he may have applied extra zeal to the prosecution of an individual after learning he was a gunowner would be speculation.

Internet Sizzles
There is no indication, nor suggestion, that FAC was involved in any wrongdoing. Indeed, FAC continues to sell replacement barrels for Makarov and other pistols to this day. A source at FAC who requested anonymity told Gun Week that the company resisted federal requests to voluntarily turn over its files on who had purchased replacement barrels.

“We respect the privacy of our customers and we hold their privacy very dear,” the source said. “That’s why we held off until they served us with a subpoena. They got the records of people who purchased the barrels. They didn’t ask for the records of anyone who purchased the firearms.

“When they first came in,” the source continued, “we wondered, ‘What’s the big deal with the barrel?’ It was kind of off the wall for us. They just told us that it was for a high-profile homicide (investigation) . . . in the state of Washington. . . . Who, what, where and when, they were quite tight-lipped about.”

But there is strong evidence that the effort was part of the Wales murder investigation. The FBI investigates the murder of federal employees when it appears the killing may have been job-related.

In the 19 months since Wales was slain, the FBI has followed scores of leads, but nothing set off such a stir as the Makarov round-up. At least two Internet chat boards sizzled in recent months on the subject.

One writer noted that the FBI, upon learning that his pistol was still chambered for the original 9x18 round, “wanted to test it anyway.”

Some Makarov owners have contacted attorneys, others have demanded warrants or subpoenas, and one reportedly went with the FBI to a test facility, watched them fire his gun into a drum of water, and then went home with his pistol. There is no indication that the authorities are keeping any of the tested pistols.

At least one gunowner wrote that the FBI agent who contacted him said the Makarov round-up was related to the murder of a US attorney in Oregon, but Wales has been the only federal prosecutor slain in the Pacific Northwest in memory.

One other Makarov owner, in California, said the agent who contacted him suggested that the FBI had a suspect in custody. However, no arrest has been made in the Wales case, further adding to the mystery surrounding this gun round-up.

Gun Registry?
Of particular concern to Makarov owners—regardless the hunt for a murderer—is what the FBI is doing with all the data it is gathering on all the handguns. FBI sources in Seattle and Washington, DC, declined to explain what is being done with the test data, including whether it is being archived or if it will be destroyed. Some gunowners are concerned that the agency is using the Wales investigation as an excuse to start a de facto gun registry, starting with Makarov pistols.

The source at FAC told Gun Week that the company has gotten many calls from Makarov owners over the past several months. Many are alarmed, some are angry, but most of them are reassured by the end of the conversation.

“Literally, I’ve had calls from the East Coast, South and West, and quite a few from the West Coast,” the source said.

A Michigan attorney representing at least two Makarov owners told Gun Week that he has advised his clients to ask for a subpoena or search warrant. He would not identify his clients.

One Makarov owner who did not mind being identified—David Johnson of Tucson, AZ—told Gun Week, “In the December-January time frame, I was at work and my wife called to say the FBI was at the house looking to speak to me and they left a card. I called the agent listed on the card and he explained he was investigating a murder and needed my Makarov with the barrel I purchased from Tapco. I explained that I removed the barrel and I wasn’t sure where it was. He told me to look for it and he would call me back the following Monday. He never called back.”

John Grove, a Makarov owner in Stafford, VA, owns a Makarov originally chambered in 9x18, but subsequently fitted with a barrel chambered for the 9x19 cartridge.

When he was contacted by an FBI agent by telephone last Dec. 17, Grove refused to turn over his pistol and a subpoena followed on Feb. 1. The issue was moot because, apparently due to a gun or ammunition malfunction, the replacement barrel had burst. Grove turned it over anyway, along with his gun, to the agent. Two weeks later, the pistol was returned but the FBI kept the barrel.

Another Makarov owner reported that he was contacted at home by an FBI agent. He did not allow the agent inside, but brought the pistol, a magazine and copies of his paperwork out to the waiting agent. About 10 days later, the gun was returned with everything but the copies of the paperwork. At all times, the agent was “professional” and “courteous.”

Threaded Barrels
Some sources suggested that the FBI was interested in any replacement barrels that may have been threaded to accept compensators or “other accessories.” That might suggest that investigators believe the killer used a suppressor on the murder weapon, but that does not square with published reports following the killing that clearly detail how neighbors heard gunshots and called police. There were no eyewitnesses.

The key to this mystery may be in the rifling differences between the original and replacement barrels.

The former police ballistics expert noted that if the killer did use the wrong ammunition, the shots could not have been accurate beyond a few yards. Wales was apparently shot from above, through a basement window, but it is not known exactly how far away from the window he was sitting when the shots were fired.

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