Posted on 11/21/2005 1:36:56 PM PST by aomagrat
Four former UPS workers, including a USC student majoring in criminal justice, have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to sell stolen handguns in what federal officials are calling one of the largest gun-trafficking schemes in the state’s history.
The scam involved more than 200 handguns stolen from the UPS sorting facility in West Columbia near the Columbia Metropolitan Airport.
William Shane Ninan, 26, of Easley; Gary Matthew Martin, 25, of Gaffney; and Julius Rozell Barnes, 27, and Sterling Serrone Leeper, 26, both of Columbia, pleaded guilty.
The scheme ran from 1999 to 2000, but the men weren’t indicted until August. The case had gone cold until some of the stolen weapons started showing up in Easley.
“We ran out of leads,” said Pat Dumais, special agent in charge of the Columbia office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. “Part of it was that the thefts had stopped.”
Dumais called this one of the largest gun trafficking cases in the state’s history. He said there have been cases of shipping employees stealing guns, “but never this size.”
Most of the weapons came from Ellett Brothers, a major firearms wholesaler based in Chapin that uses UPS as its primary carrier.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Hagins said most gun trafficking cases involve about 10 or 20 guns, usually bought from stores and sold in other states.
“These guys had a direct supply of guns they knew were coming from a particular company,” Hagins said.
Hagins said the men sold guns to their friends in South Carolina, mostly in the Upstate, who would resell them in other states. The stolen weapons have shown up in California, Washington and Michigan, he said.
The thefts started when, prosecutors say, Ninan, a car wash supervisor at UPS, stole a UPS package. At home, Ninan found a gun in the box, which had been sent by Ellett Brothers. After that, prosecutors say, Ninan started looking for packages from Ellett Brothers and gun manufacturers, including Glock.
Ninan, who Hagins said was enrolled at USC studying criminal justice at the time, recruited his roommate, Barnes, a packaging supervisor. Ninan would drive UPS trucks to the perimeter and toss packages over the fence to Barnes, who would put them in his car.
Ninan also recruited Martin, who worked at the UPS air hub. Because Ellett Brothers used UPS a lot, UPS would leave a truck at the Ellett Brothers facility so Ellett employees could load it. From there, a UPS employee would drive the truck to the air hub, and the boxes would be unloaded, scanned and loaded onto a plane.
Martin’s role, according to prosecutors, was to steal the boxes before they were scanned into the UPS system. But on Aug. 3, 2000, Martin made a mistake. He scanned one of the packages he was supposed to steal, and then manually removed it from the UPS system.
“That sent up all kinds of red flags at UPS,” Hagins said. “That’s what got us zeroing in on (Martin) as well.”
Leeper, according to court documents, helped Ninan and Barnes break into the UPS facility in February 2000 to steal more guns.
“He’s not a major participant in this,” said Charlie Jay Johnson, Leeper’s lawyer. “He’s kind of on the outskirts.”
Elias Frost also has been indicted, but his case is pending.
Neither... UPS is a union run company and the TSA is a government run entity... it's safe to say, you shouldn't trust either...
We need a law against transporting guns by parcel delivery.
(you know that's what the DUmmies will say)
BTTT
What an incredibly well-oiled machine this ring was.
I can't believe these guys did this 200x before they got caught.
UPS is virtually the only carrier that will still ship guns anymore.
But on Aug. 3, 2000, Martin made a mistake. He scanned one of the packages he was supposed to steal, and then manually removed it from the UPS system. “That sent up all kinds of red flags at UPS,” Hagins said. “That’s what got us zeroing in on (Martin) as well.”
Dumbass.
Sterling Serrone Leeper
That name rocks. Sounds like a foreign superhero.
I note that you 'said' it but attributed the statement to DU. Reasonable regulations against guns are the hallmarks of the NRA and progressives. Damn both.
why do you say that? fed ex will, wont they?
They'll no doubt rethink this policy when some trial lawyer decides to name them in a wrongful death case as a result of one of these guns being used in a homicide.
Is that why the others don't? Possible liability?
It is still legal to ship long guns via USPS.
UPS has had a rash of stolen firearms, so much so that they stopped accepting ground shipments of firearms.
... passing the extra expenses on to you. The people in this article should face a class action lawsuit from gun owners for the extra expenses.
As an ex employee of UPS, I can say this type of criminal ring is not uncommon at all within the company. Guns and jewelry are very common targets. It amazes me that many of these companies put their business logos on their boxes, they are just inviting this kind of thing to happen.
Its just not high dollar items either. Candy companies were prone to have their packages broken open and raided for the sweets. That happened all the time. Shoe companies had problems with stolen shoes. If you wanted a new pair of Nikes, you just had to find a unloader in the parking lot, tell them your size and style of shoe you wanted, and when the shipment came in, they would wear some crappy shoes in to work then simply pop open the box when nobody was around and slip the shoes on and wear them out the door, no one the wiser.... Only problem was if you had real big or small feet and the thief didn`t. But they would have to pass on those cases.
Some of these ring were very sophisticated. When the shipper and UPS would try to combat the problem, like having the logos changed on the boxes to say a Comic book company, and the packages were still stolen, they knew the ring was very deep inside the company, with many people at different levels involved.
UPS does alot to combat theft, by using hidden cameras and even employee plants/spies to try to get inside the rings. Their lost preventions department is quite good and usually break up these rings sooner or later.
UPS even pays people to spy on union activities ! Like what they say at union meetings and plans for strikes etc...
Its a wild company to work for, thats for sure. One of the most high stress enviroments I have even had to work in. They pay great but the headaches come with it.
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