Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.
Posted on 03/14/2005 4:08:49 PM PST by FreedomCalls
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.
Brad have his mast yet?
The FBI obviously knows which Makarov (East German, Russian, Bulgarian etc.)that was used in the crime. They also know that it had a .380 conversion barrel. They know to whom each and every one of these particular Markarovs were sold to for the first time. They also have a list of persons who purchased .380 conversion barrels. IMO the chances of recovering the actual murder weapon are zero and the FBI knows it. By tracking the transfers both private and through FFL dealers the FBI is obviously trying to connect one of these Mararovs and/or a .380 barrel to their prime suspect. This is why I always advised my customers to keep a record of who they sell or trade their guns to. You never know when the ATF or FBI might come a knockin'.
She-e-e-e-t, since it would be easy to brand him as a terrorist he's lucky they didn't torture him and then send him to Gitmo. And it's nice to see they no longer have to fool around with such outdated concepts as probable cause before harassing owners of these pistols.
This is also yet another good wake up slap to those who buy anything Massah doesn't really want you to have, no matter how legal it is at the present time, through the mail.
"To me, this indicates that the government didn't have a friggin case."
To me, this indicates that the U.S. Attorney didn't have the guts to prosecute the case, as usual.
>>In Washington state, it is illegal to have parts/pieces of fully automatic weapons. No Class III here for anyone - except manufacturers and the military. LEOs don't even carry Class III. No supressors, either.<<
Wow! What an easy way to jail a neighbor you don't like.
yes they can and you have small goverment conservative george w bush and the patriot act to thank for it
Boy, I've seen some non sequitirs and jumping to conclusions in my day, but you're right up there in the heavyweight division.
You want to point out where I made even the slightest suggestion that I approved of the actions of the government in this case?
As far as I'm concerned, everyone's entitled to their favorite form of firearm, whether it be a Purdey shotgun, a Raven .25 auto, or quad 50's on a turret.
I simply expressed my opinion about the quality and reliability of these guns, which in my (very limited) experience, has not been good.
I had a roommate buy one, that cracked its frame after only fifty rounds or so. He might have been using the wrong ammo, and I never shot it, but I was not impressed. Any fool wants to buy one, be my guest.
-ccm
I simply expressed my opinion about the quality and reliability of these guns, which in my (very limited) experience, has not been good.
And that has ZERO to do with this thread.
While the feds may or may not give a rat's behind for the murdered individual, they place supreme importance on solving murders against members of law enforcement and the judiciary. In short, it's the position not the person they care about in this case. We cannot end up like some third world country where judges and juries have to wear hoods in order to avoid retribution for adverse verdicts. An attack on our judiciary is an attack on our entire justice system. As flawed as it is,we are a dang sight better off than most nations. If the feds would only go after corruption in the judiciary with as much zeal I would be much more pleased, for I regard corrupt judges as evil as criminal gangs who try to intimidate honest judges and law enforcement personell.
This Wales murder reads like a "movie of the week" plot, doesn't it?
YET!
Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.
Da Tovarsch, The needs of Federal Security Service (Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti) must always come before the rights of the citizens. There are even those benighted souls who post on this forum that believe that crimes against government bureaucrats are somehow worse than crimes against the rest of us.
I cant tell you how many people on this conservative forum that will argue that its not an abuse of power if its THE LAW...
Only if you have a really bad lawyer.
But of course the Constitutional answer is "no way in hell". Alas, nobody pays much attention to the old rag these days.
The other question that arrises is, how did they find out who owned all these Makarovs and barrels, especially the barrels. Did they go to the importers and to a forward trace on all Makarovs. A barrel isn't even an "accountable" part. You can buy one from a dealer, or anyone else, with no paperwork whatso ever.
It is somewhat similar. One responsible and enthusiastic gunowner can "infect" many others. Pretty soon a politician will be putting his career on the line if he even thinks about violating the second amendment. Can't have that, can they?
To me it says that the parts turned out not to be "for machine guns" and were not imported illegally. Many parts for semiautomatics will fit and work on machine guns as well. For example stocks, grips, bolt carriers, sights, etc. The ATF accused the Branch Davidians of buying machine gun kits, when all they really were was kits to build semi-auto AR-15 clones, and the BD member buying them had an FFL, although that's not required unless the kit contains the receiver. No reciever, you can order it from an ad in Shotgun News (which itself was cited in the horrendously flawed warrant in the BD case, as if possession of SGN was grounds for suspecting a crime had been committed).
The FBI supoenaed a list of EVERYONE who ever bought a replacement barrel from the manufacturer. From the second article:
The FBI apparently located Makarov owners using information obtained by subpoena from a Minnesota-based importer, Federal Arms Corporation (FAC).They've since been going around and asking for those people to send in their Makarovs for testing.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.