Posted on 04/04/2013 5:11:57 AM PDT by rellimpank
Hours after a machine gun was stolen from an ATF agent's vehicle in September, police had four men in custody - one who admitted holding the fully automatic weapon before his friend took it back and stashed it under a bed in a north side house.
But as police and federal agents fanned out searching houses and interviewing family members, friends and girlfriends, the gun vanished.
More than six months later, the rifle and another gun stolen along with it remain missing.
And despite a newly filed search warrant detailing a text message that may link one of the original suspects to the theft, nobody has been charged with the crime.
Of all the mistakes by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in its flawed gun-buying sting in Milwaukee last year, the loss of the government-owned Colt M4 stands as the gravest threat to public safety.
"Everyone is on pins and needles every day that this gun is going to be used out there," said a police officer familiar with the investigation, who asked not to be identified.
(Excerpt) Read more at jsonline.com ...
What a bunch of ninnies
Anti American organizations like the BATF can’t be trusted with fire arms.
—ping—
This sounds like a Keystone Cops cartoon.
What a bunch of buffoons.
If O’bummer had a son, anyone of these four could be him!
According to the article, the ATF set up a sting operation running a store to sell clothing, shoes and drug paraphernalia.
The store was called “Fearless Distributing” The gun, along with two others and ammunition was stolen from the undercover ATF agents SUV.
http://media.jsonline.com/images/BACKFIRE04.jpg
Jeezzz... well at least he didn't say something like the gun was going to go on a rampage.
“In Milwaukee, the plan was to buy illegal guns and take them off the street.
About 30 people have been charged, but mostly on minor gun and drug counts; 145 guns were seized, but some had just been purchased from stores such as Gander Mountain and sold to undercover agents for a quick profit.
This time, when agents lost track of weapons, they were their own.”
“The day after the theft, Sept. 14, Marquise Jones sold the ATF its own gun, along with a second, for $1,400 at the Fearless Distributing store, according to court documents.
But ATF agents let Jones walk. It would be about a week before agents questioned him, according to sources familiar with the investigation who asked not to be identified.
The sources said Jones was allowed to leave because ATF officials worried an arrest would expose the undercover storefront operation and embarrass the agency. Court records show agents continued to buy guns at the Fearless storefront in the week after the agent’s guns were stolen.
The operation was shut down a short time later. It is unclear if the decision was made by ATF or the U.S. attorney’s office in Milwaukee, which had been briefed on the investigation.
Jones might have been the best shot investigators had at quickly retrieving the remaining stolen guns.
Two months later, he was charged in federal court. He has pleaded guilty to possessing a stolen gun and is awaiting sentencing.
Toombs and Boone, who were arrested on the theft and later released, have been charged with other crimes in recent months, unrelated to the Fearless operation.
Contacted earlier this year, before he was arrested in those cases, Toombs told the Journal Sentinel he didn’t steal the ATF guns and didn’t know who did.
“I’m not going to talk about that,” he said. “I am putting that behind me.”
Funny this story sounds kinda familiar. Really eerie
The BATF is at its best when they demonstrate the wrong way to do something.
It just sems to come natural to them.
Milwaukee BATF sting goes awry
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The store was called “Fearless Distributing”
Oh my, LOL, Fearless Distributing? Look... these Feral Yout’s may not be the sharpest knives in the drawer. But when it comes to “Street Smarts”, there are none better. Next time come up with a better store name and guys that look and act like old Bloods that have been in prison a long time.
If federal agents have Colt M4s, then the public should have them too.
Interesting word choices by the reporter. A full-auto machine gun owned by ATF, and hen stolen, is simply referred to as a ‘gun’, and even more innocuosly a ‘rifle’. If it had instead been owned by an ordinary citizen and stolen, the press would be calling it a ‘high-powered, miltary-style assault weapon’ or somesuch other scaaaaarrryy term. The citizen would then be demonized by te press as careless and reckless with no regard for public safety.
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