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.
Or how about "merchandise evacuators"
Yeah. Everything going VERY cheap.
btt
Do you mean that woman who has called for immediate investigation on why this WH didn't respond the way she wanted. The woman who blames everyone else for their troubles.
Do you mean that man who criticized this WH for not responding the way he felt they should have. The man who says it is someone elses fault he debased his family.
If this is the couple you mean the answer is no, bercause it wasn't their fault they looted the peoples house. They did it because they could. It was someone elses fault,
Great point! They were even forced to return some stuff, too, so they couldn't claim innocence. Air Force 1 was looted, too.
I bet those looters had never touched a 500 rd box of ammunition....as Celine Dion would say "Let them touch it just once in their lives."
The military and police are doing this because they are racist. ;-)
Thats easy. Offer rewards for anyone coming forward to identify them. That will do it.
Look, please don't paint your sarcasm with a broad brush. Many New Orleans police did an outstanding job considering the amount of thugs, thieves, and murderers in that city and considering the small number of THEM against THE OTHERS.
They need to fire the women police officers and any others that looted and fire those who ran away. The rest seem to be hard working loyal officers to me...so stop the bashing please.
As another said, will a jury of their peers convict?
As another said, will a jury of their peers convict?
I think this was in reference to the cases where there was video proof. The looters would probably just plead guilty, get a slap on the wrist and go on about their business. I think, if there are prosecutions, they will be misdemeanor charges tried before a smaller court with punishments just public service work or a few monthes probation. I don't think they will tie up the courts with jury trials. And if someone is standing in front of a judge with his mug in plain sight, shown looting, I'd say they will just plead guilty, and take their little spanking. Not all but most.
They found the bike in his posession, but he wasn't at his house, although eyewitnesses say he used to carry the bike with him all the time.
This thing has cover-up written all over it. This whole episode has been an illuminating, and for conservatives humiliating, experience in who really has the power in this society. The scenes of blacks looting in New Orleans badly shook the liberal establishment, who are always afraid that such scenes might expose the fraudulence of the idea of a multicultural society and cause a backlash that would put them out of power. Why they would be afraid is beyond comprehension since their victims are as tame as toy poodles and wouldn't revolt under any circumstance, but that's liberals for you. When you control the media, particularly in a democracy, you literally have the power to define reality, and it's remarkable how easily and successfully they have managed to turn this thing to their advantage.
OK, now if your stolen bike was found in the suspects possession, why was he not arrested? This seems rather complicated, when it should not be.
Because the guy claimed he got it from a friend. I wanted to press charges on him and I was begging to press charges on him, but he wasn't arrested.
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