Posted on 09/19/2005 7:41:43 AM PDT by SmithL
NEW ORLEANS - It was like a modern-day treasure map - a computerized diagram of neighborhoods with codes marking the addresses where National Guard soldiers came upon caches of goods taken by looters in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
"There's probably still loot out there" hidden in various homes, Capt. Gregg McGowan said from his Oklahoma National Guard unit's makeshift headquarters.
"We're not going house-to-house looking for it, but if we find it, we secure it so police can check it."
In the chaos that followed Katrina's flooding, looters targeted everything from grocery stores to gun shops to trendy women's clothing boutiques. Now that the city is mostly empty of civilians, military patrols making house-to-house checks for remaining residents or the dead are finding some of the hiding places for the stolen goods.
New Orleans District Attorney Eddie Jordan said he intends to prosecute as many looters as he can. However, few arrests have been made thus far because authorities have been primarily concerned with reaching stranded residents, Jordan said.
The guardsmen recently thought they had caught a looter coming back into town to load his stash onto a moving truck. Inside his home, the soldiers found automobile parts stacked 8 feet high, a new off-road motorcycle and various electronics, including a video game system with a pawn shop ticket still attached.
But the man told the soldiers he had no idea where the goods came from and that someone else must have broken into his home and stashed them there after he evacuated. Skeptical, the soldiers detained him until police arrived, filled out a report and seized the goods. They took the man's name and address, but did not arrest him.
"You could be technical and say, 'I'm going to book him with possession of stolen property,' but then you have to find out who the owner is, find out whether that person had permission take that property," New Orleans Police Capt. Marlon Defillo said.
"So what we're generally doing is seizing the goods as found property and writing a report."
That way, he explained, authorities can return the goods if they figure out where they came from - rather than holding them as evidence pending the resolution of often drawn-out criminal cases.
In other homes, McGowan's unit found automatic teller machines that had been broken open and emptied of cash and bags of ammunition still packaged in 500-round bundles, not the individual boxes of 20 rounds usually sold over the counter.
A smashed-open video poker machine, likely taken from a bar, was left lying on the sidewalk of an Uptown residential street.
In a church-run assisted living home close to a heavily looted Wal-Mart in the lower Garden District, a team of guardsmen found new bicycles, stereos and clothing. Someone associated with the church, who refused to give his name, said at least seven rooms in the four-story residence were filled with goods believed to be stolen.
New Orleans police are storing seized loot in a makeshift warehouse near the city's train station, Defillo said. He declined to provide details on how many goods had been found, how many businesses or homes had been looted, or if authorities had any long-term plan to track down some of the culprits.
"We haven't even had time to deal with that yet," he said.
Arrrr... If me mateys in the French Quarter be lootin' an pillagin' then they'll be in fer a keel haulin'!
Giving the seized/recovered property to the NOPD is like putting chickens in a fox den. If the city attny intends to prosecute the looters some of the men in blue will have to be included.
SO it be.
Mad Harry Kidd.
"So police can check it"
LOL, you mean "So the police can loot the loot."
"bags of ammunition still packaged in 500-round bundles"
"Hey!!! I resemble that."
Me, too. The smallest amount I buy at a time is 300 rounds. If I find a good price, I go for the 1,000-round case lots.
Oh sure. I can do that. These folks are looting because they are oppressed. They're merely fighting back against President Bush's secret plan to get rid of all black people. How's that?
Aha! No wonder Pres. Bush kept showing up in New Orleans! He was stash'n goods! It's his fault!
The moving van?? for bird seed of course!
They're undocumented removers.
I understand that the racks of country and western CD's in Wal-Mart were the safest place to be during the looting. Nobody came near them!
"Huh" hell.
You would need fingerprints to charge and prosecute the ones who actually did the taking.
If you want a Google GMail account, FReepmail me.
They're going fast!
Nice of AP to let the thieves know where their stash is being stored.
Huh?
You need no finger print evidence when stolen goods are found inside your own home.
"Huh" hell.
That's what they'd tell you when they hooked you up.
You would need fingerprints to charge and prosecute the ones who actually did the taking.
LOL. Where did you get that one?
Maybe that's what all the meth heads should say when their homes are raided. "But officer, my finger prints aren't on those items, I have no idea how it got in my home". HA!
You really haven't a clue. Let me tell you, if they find a whole house full of stolen good in your house, and you live in that house, your going to get convicted and be jailed regardless if your finger prints are on the goods or not.
This really upsets me making excuses for people stealing other than food and water... it goes to the very fabric of civilized society and if nothing it shows how badly a Socialist, welfare, society will break down -- given an opportunity, people who have never had to work for anything think it's okay to just take what you want because it's owed to them since they are poor -- yet (IMHO) they are poor because they didn't bother to get the free education we give everyone in this country and they can't -- or won't -- get a decent job.
More than likely, none of the recovered loot will be admissable in court as evidence. It will be interesting to see how it plays out as to whether or not the N.G. or NOPD had legal cause to enter the house(s).
Whatever you say, Tooth.
If you want a Google GMail account, FReepmail me.
They're going fast!
BS.
And were not talking about squatters. LOL.
Again, if they find *your* home full of stolen goods, full of drugs, whatever, your going to jail. Period.
I was wondering how thy were going to get away with it.
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.