Feds Raid New Orleans-Area Gun Shop
Posted: May 17th, 2007 09:52 AM EDT
By BRETT MARTEL
Associated Press Writer
JEFFERSON, La. --
Federal agents seized hundreds of firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition from a suburban New Orleans gun store Wednesday, saying illegal sales helped fuel a burgeoning crime problem.
More than 2,300 firearms sold from Elliot's Gun Shop in the past five years have been tied to crimes in the area, including 125 to murder investigations and 500 to drug crimes, said Dave Harper, an agent for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The owner and two employees were accused of the illegal sales.
"Those arrested today were clearly fueling the violent crime problem in the New Orleans area," Harper said. "We're confident we have eliminated a major source of crime guns in the New Orleans area."
Moving vans backed up to the shop, and a tent was set up next door. In the tent, agents from the Secret Service and the ATF tagged and packed away hundreds of handguns.
Authorities said they uncovered a scheme that included forging law enforcement officers' signatures and using a photocopy of the officers' credentials to buy handguns from a New York-based distributor at discounted prices.
The distributor has cooperated with the investigation and is not suspected of any wrongdoing, Harper said.
The gun shop is also suspected of helping a man who turned out to be an informant buy a gun illegally as a straw purchase. That occurs when someone who is eligible to buy firearms fills out the paperwork and buys the firearm, then gives it gun to someone prohibited from buying the weapon because of a criminal record.
Guns sold from the store had an extremely short "time to crime," or the time from the sale of the firearm to the recovery of the firearm during a crime investigation, Harper said.
Arrested were Herman Eicke, 65, Timothy Harris, 54, and Rebecca Zitzmann, 42.
Eicke is the shop's legal owner, but Harris ran the business, Harper said. Eicke had lost his license to sell firearms after being cited numerous times for record-keeping violations.
Harris and Eicke were charged with aggravated identity theft, over which the Secret Service has jurisdiction, while Zitzmann was charged with falsifying firearms records.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jan Mann said the three were jailed pending a bond hearing. She said they did not yet have defense attorneys.
Harper declined to speculate about the possible sentences the suspects could get because the investigation was in its early stages and more charges could be forthcoming.
New Orleans had the nation's highest per capita murder rate in 2006. Jefferson Parish, where the gun store is located, registered its highest-ever number of homicides in 2006.
Posted: May 17th, 2007 09:52 AM EDT
By BRETT MARTEL
Associated Press Writer
JEFFERSON, La. --
Federal agents seized hundreds of firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition from a suburban New Orleans gun store Wednesday, saying illegal sales helped fuel a burgeoning crime problem.
More than 2,300 firearms sold from Elliot's Gun Shop in the past five years have been tied to crimes in the area, including 125 to murder investigations and 500 to drug crimes, said Dave Harper, an agent for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The owner and two employees were accused of the illegal sales.
"Those arrested today were clearly fueling the violent crime problem in the New Orleans area," Harper said. "We're confident we have eliminated a major source of crime guns in the New Orleans area."
Moving vans backed up to the shop, and a tent was set up next door. In the tent, agents from the Secret Service and the ATF tagged and packed away hundreds of handguns.
Authorities said they uncovered a scheme that included forging law enforcement officers' signatures and using a photocopy of the officers' credentials to buy handguns from a New York-based distributor at discounted prices.
The distributor has cooperated with the investigation and is not suspected of any wrongdoing, Harper said.
The gun shop is also suspected of helping a man who turned out to be an informant buy a gun illegally as a straw purchase. That occurs when someone who is eligible to buy firearms fills out the paperwork and buys the firearm, then gives it gun to someone prohibited from buying the weapon because of a criminal record.
Guns sold from the store had an extremely short "time to crime," or the time from the sale of the firearm to the recovery of the firearm during a crime investigation, Harper said.
Arrested were Herman Eicke, 65, Timothy Harris, 54, and Rebecca Zitzmann, 42.
Eicke is the shop's legal owner, but Harris ran the business, Harper said. Eicke had lost his license to sell firearms after being cited numerous times for record-keeping violations.
Harris and Eicke were charged with aggravated identity theft, over which the Secret Service has jurisdiction, while Zitzmann was charged with falsifying firearms records.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jan Mann said the three were jailed pending a bond hearing. She said they did not yet have defense attorneys.
Harper declined to speculate about the possible sentences the suspects could get because the investigation was in its early stages and more charges could be forthcoming.
New Orleans had the nation's highest per capita murder rate in 2006. Jefferson Parish, where the gun store is located, registered its highest-ever number of homicides in 2006.
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