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They're going fast!
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.
Cute little image, but it doesn't take away the fact that you are wrong.
A first year law student could probably get most of the evidence suppressed claiming unlawful searches and seizures. Best just to find the rightful owner and return the items.
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They're going fast!
Sorry charlie, but you are not taking into account "a jury of your peers" or nagging little details like chain of custody. Calling BS and making lots of assertive posts do not win in a court of law. Consider that we have first person accounts of survivors, even LEO's, who broke into houses out of necessity. Further, the fact that the NG broke into your house is proof-positive that you were not there in control of your premises. Feel free to go on believing what you will, but try to offer up some legal basis for your assertions. Cite just one case where a person was previously convicted of "receiving" under similar circumstances.
Wrong again. It's not what I say. That's the way the law works.
Why is it that no one ever leaves a stash big screen TVs in my house when they break in?
They won't even try to prosecute them because they would have to start with the police.
"But officer, I just found all this stuff, and put it in my home, and I was going to bring it to the police station just before you showed up".
What a great alibi!!
Actually, that's not always true. They found a person in possession of my stolen bike and he was just allowed to go free after I recovered my bike. In fact, they almost charged me for assault when I beat him up for taking my bike.
I refer you to the "First Law of Holes." I am NOT saying that the homeowners are all innocent but there is a big difference between actual guilt and conviction in a court of law. You seem to be confusing the two. Guilty people are found not guilty all the time. I give you OJ as the best example for this situation.
How about "Officer, I just returned home and found out I'd been broken into and all of this stuff was here. My phone is not working so I could not report it. I was so afraid to venture outside lest the criminals that stashed this stuff see me that I barricaded myself inside. Thank God you are here."
But will they able to do any thing because when they enter the house they did not have a search warrant?... you know that will come up if they prosecute... also if it's a federal troop making the find how does Posse Comitatus come in on reporting the loot... this could get it interesting later on
So what friend would give somebody a 400 dollar full suspension mountian bike for free?
"....Maybe those people are so poor, some of the people who do that they're so poor they've never touched anything in their lives. Let them touch those things for once."
What a moron.
Hey, I think you're onto something!
How about, "Officer, I just got home, and found my house was full of really neat new stuff, and I was just on my way to the police station to report it".
You're not a criminal defense attorney are you?
This is too funny!
Something like that would be easily checked out. I hope the cops were smart enough to check for fingerprints... : ) <<< me
"Send a kayak!"
It was in his possession, but he was seen at his house with the bike?? What does this mean?
And what does this have to do with a house full of stolen loot?
So in other words, when they found the suspect, he was not in possession of the bike.
Actually, it was in his posession, but he was seen at his house with the bike.
Which is it?
Note to self: purchase lock for basement door...
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