Former security guard pleas guilty to firearms, ammo theft from ATF update post 7

[mikeyp]

Former security guard pleas guilty to firearms, ammo theft from ATF | West Virginia | heraldmailmedia.com

"MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — A former federal contractor pleaded guilty on Wednesday to stealing firearms, ammunition and firearm parts from a U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives facility where he was a security guard.

Christopher Lee Yates, 52, of Martinsburg, told U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert W. Trumble that he took items that still appeared to be intact from recycling bins at the ATF’s National Firearms and Ammunition Destruction Branch (NAFD) facility near Martinsburg, then sold them.

The ATF facility is now at 244 Needy Road, but was at 5550 Winchester Ave. south of Martinsburg.

Yates faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and $250,000 fine for each offense.

The government’s investigation found that Yates stole from the ATF facility and trafficked firearms, firearm parts and ammunition from 2016 to 2019, according to a plea agreement filed Wednesday.

The federal investigation began in February after the Philadelphia Police Department recovered a firearm described as a “ghost gun” during a traffic stop, according to testimony by ATF Special Agent Seth Cox on Wednesday and court records.

The type of gun is also known as a Polymer 80 percent receiver, according to court records."





Ghost gun, the new boogeyman

 

[amm5061]

Wait, if it was a P80, how did they know it was stolen from the ATF? Do they serialize them before they send them for destruction?

 

[mikeyp]

Wait, if it was a P80, how did they know it was stolen from the ATF? Do they serialize them before they send them for destruction?

If you read he article, they tracked the slide on the P80 to ones that were supposed to have been destroyed by the ATF.

 

[drgrant]

Wait, if it was a P80, how did they know it was stolen from the ATF? Do they serialize them before they send them for destruction?

A common thing in LE is to put some kind of a marking on the gun somewhere as a "tell" to track it as a piece of evidence, so I wouldn't be surprised if they carved/burned/engraved something into the receiver when it was taken in. An old school method on guns so equipped was to take grip panels etc, off, and the officer would scrawl their initials on the frame somewhere. Or in this case it might have been the slide. Other possibility is it was painted some kind of whacky
color/paint/etc. Also if we're talking a Glock, if they used an OEM upper, those have serialized barrels and slides so not that hard to track that and link it to
the "gun" as a unit.

-Mike

 

[mikeyp]

"The slide on the firearm was from a Glock .40 handgun. The slide was traced by serial number back to the ATF facility as having been destroyed by the ATF, according to Cox and court records."

 

[AHM]

... he took items that still appeared to be intact from recycling bins at the ATF’s National Firearms and Ammunition Destruction Branch ...

That's a tender subject.

 

[mikeyp]

Back in the news

ATF agents searching for thousands of guns stolen from their facility before they could be destroyed

ATF agents across the country have been working to track down thousands of guns and firearms parts that had been seized by law enforcement and were supposed to be destroyed but were stolen first, according to sources familiar with the effort.

The agents are searching for some of their own retired service weapons as well as guns from other federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and DEA.

All of the weapons had been sent to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' National Firearms and Ammunition Destruction Branch in Martinsburg, West Virginia, to be shredded, according to court documents and congressional letters.

A longtime guard at the ATF facility has admitted to carting off thousands of firearms, gun parts and ammunition and selling them over several years.

Christopher Yates, 52, a guard who worked as a contract employee for ATF for 16 years, was charged in federal court in West Virginia. He pleaded guilty in April to possession of a stolen gun and stealing government property.

 

[drgrant]

Back in the news

ATF agents searching for thousands of guns stolen from their facility before they could be destroyed

ATF agents across the country have been working to track down thousands of guns and firearms parts that had been seized by law enforcement and were supposed to be destroyed but were stolen first, according to sources familiar with the effort.

The agents are searching for some of their own retired service weapons as well as guns from other federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and DEA.

All of the weapons had been sent to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' National Firearms and Ammunition Destruction Branch in Martinsburg, West Virginia, to be shredded, according to court documents and congressional letters.

A longtime guard at the ATF facility has admitted to carting off thousands of firearms, gun parts and ammunition and selling them over several years.

Christopher Yates, 52, a guard who worked as a contract employee for ATF for 16 years, was charged in federal court in West Virginia. He pleaded guilty in April to possession of a stolen gun and stealing government property.

I love how ATF runs around giving FFL dealers enormous amounts of shit for "missing" guns from their books (and most of these aren't actually missing, they usually end up being minor clerical errors) but they can't even keep track of their own shit...

One bad ATF guy probably dumped/leaked thousands more guns in the same interval than were ever missing from all FFL's combined and now nobody will say anything, "because ATF". Just like F&F, the blame will be shifted to everyone else but them.

Is the ATF channeling hipsters now? trying to be "ironic" ?

-Mike

 

[MAGA99]

If the incompetent ATF boobs had actually done their jobs and destroyed the guns they were being paid to destroy, none of this would have ever happened.

I’m not sure why anyone would ever want to destroy a perfectly good gun, but that’s neither here nor there.

 

[seanc]

Just label it as “fast and furious, the sequel” and call it done. What’s the is problem?

They were going to track them at some point. But forgot to do it, right?

 

[Devils Paintbrush]

A common thing in LE is to put some kind of a marking on the gun somewhere as a "tell" to track it as a piece of evidence, so I wouldn't be surprised if they carved/burned/engraved something into the receiver when it was taken in. An old school method on guns so equipped was to take grip panels etc, off, and the officer would scrawl their initials on the frame somewhere. Or in this case it might have been the slide. Other possibility is it was painted some kind of whacky
color/paint/etc. Also if we're talking a Glock, if they used an OEM upper, those have serialized barrels and slides so not that hard to track that and link it to
the "gun" as a unit.

-Mike

I have posted this before, but firearm seized by police and then ordered returned when the judge ruled in my favor.

Officer's Initials and badge number. I didn't discover it until about 10 years later. Still have the pistol.

 

[AHM]

I’m not sure why anyone would ever want to destroy a perfectly good gun, but that’s neither here nor there.

Cabelas won't even stock used handguns in their Berlin/Hudson "Gun Library".
Because ain't nobody got time to figure out whether they put a hair across Marcia's grommet.
They'll buy your used handguns.
They just transship them to one of the 57 other states and sell them there.

Imagine selling used Crimeguns to people.
Say, one is a 92F and not a 92FS.
the slide breaks in half,
and smites the elite operator in the schnozzola.

Ain't a long enough disclaimer to protect against that nonsense.

The trick is to keep The Man from siphoning off the guns
and selling them on the black market.

Officer's Initials and badge number. I didn't discover it until about 10 years later. Still have the pistol.

Be a shame if someone started tagging stuff with those 6 magic characters.