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P'town police investigate missing firearm

This is going to be interesting

Nauset teen linked to officer's stolen gun
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090418/NEWS/904180342

By Mary Ann Bragg
[email protected]
April 18, 2009
BREWSTER — A local teenager has been charged with obtaining a semi-automatic handgun stolen from a Provincetown police officer's home in late February.

But police have not yet found the gun.

Lasco Larrain, 17, of 28 South Pond Drive, pleaded not guilty on April 10 in Orleans District Court to the felony charge of receiving stolen property valued at over $250.

Police believe Larrain has information about the Sig Sauer P229 semi-automatic pistol that Provincetown police Sgt. Thomas Steele reported missing Feb. 24 from his Provincetown home. The handgun is Steele's personal weapon, not his police-issued firearm.

The gun was unloaded and stored under lock and key at the time it went missing although there was no sign of forced entry into Steele's home, according to Provincetown Police Chief Jeff Jaran.

An internal police inquiry cleared Steele of any wrongdoing and police now consider the gun stolen, Jaran said.

Larrain was implicated by an acquaintance's statements to the Barnstable Police Department in late March, according to a police report.

The acquaintance told a Barnstable patrolman that he had known Larrain for about a year and that they often smoked marijuana together. The acquaintance told police he saw Larrain with a Sig Sauer P229 in late February or early March. At that time, Larrain said he wanted to sell the handgun, the police report said. The acquaintance told police he was interested in buying the gun, valued between $800 and $1,000, but he didn't have enough cash to make the purchase.

A few days after seeing Larrain with the gun, the acquaintance saw a story in the Cape Cod Times about Steele's missing gun, the police report stated. The acquaintance called Larrain and questioned him about it. He told police that Larrain said it was the one owned by the Provincetown police officer.

"Did you see the article in the newspaper?" Larrain is alleged to have said to the acquaintance. "I have that gun."

Larrain told the acquaintance that he needed to get rid of the gun, the police report stated.

The Barnstable police contacted the Provincetown police with the acquaintance's statements. Provincetown police then applied for a criminal complaint against Larrain April 9 in Orleans District Court. A clerk-magistrate granted the request, court records indicated. Court officials then issued an arrest warrant for Larrain.

Brewster police arrested Larrain at his home, said Brewster police Lt. Heath Eldredge.

At his arraignment, Larrain was released on personal recognizance with no cash bail requirements. A pretrial hearing is scheduled for May 19.

The charge of receiving stolen goods over $250 in value carries a maximum sentence of 2½ years in a house of correction or five years in a state prison, or up to a $500 fine.

Larrain is a student in the Class of 2009 at Nauset Regional High School in North Eastham, according to his online Facebook page. School authorities declined to confirm the information yesterday.

Neither Larrain nor his mother Coco Larrain returned repeated calls for comment yesterday.

Steele has been a member of the Provincetown Police Department for eight years. He was sworn in as a sergeant in March. He is a firearms instructor for the department and a military veteran with firearms experience, said Jaran, who added that Steele was licensed to carry the Sig Sauer. Steele also had permission from the department to use the gun off-duty.

Municipal police officers are generally allowed to use a second, private handgun where they may need to act as police officers off-duty.

Jaran began the internal investigation into Steele's missing gun partly to ensure that residents would not feel the matter was being swept under the rug. Jaran also told the Times in early March that Steele had passed a polygraph test about the gun and had not violated any department policy or acted in any criminal way.

Jaran has declined to release the written results of the internal affairs inquiry or the police report on the missing gun, citing the ongoing investigation. The Times has appealed that denial to state public records officials and is awaiting a ruling.
 
The gun was unloaded and stored under lock and key at the time it went missing although there was no sign of forced entry into Steele's home, according to Provincetown Police Chief Jeff Jaran.
Click to expand...

Teleportation... [rolleyes]
 
this should make for a short trial, an admitted dope smoker, ya I know it has been decriminalized to a point but still not going to play well in front of a jury, provides uncorroborated evidence that he saw someone with a gun. They better come up with more witnesses.

He was not charged with B&E, not charged with any gun law violations, they didn't find any drugs when they arrested him or they would have charged him. You know they must have searched the house... turned up nothing, and then the Judge lets him out on PR, and nobody knows where the gun really is or if he ever had it in his possession. As long as the kid lawyers up and refuses to answer a single question, and no other witnesses come forward, sounds like a weak case to me, but we'll see what the prosecutor has to present to the jury this summer.
 
Glockaholic said:
this should make for a short trial, an admitted dope smoker, ya I know it has been decriminalized to a point but still not going to play well in front of a jury, provides uncorroborated evidence that he saw someone with a gun. They better come up with more witnesses.

He was not charged with B&E, not charged with any gun law violations, they didn't find any drugs when they arrested him or they would have charged him. You know they must have searched the house... turned up nothing, and then the Judge lets him out on PR, and nobody knows where the gun really is or if he ever had it in his possession. As long as the kid lawyers up and refuses to answer a single question, and no other witnesses come forward, sounds like a weak case to me, but we'll see what the prosecutor has to present to the jury this summer.
Click to expand...

You forgot to add that if he gets out, he stays the hell away from where he hid the gun, providing he didn't already sell it...
 
sniperwolff99 said:
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090303/NEWS11/90303010


Steele, an officer with the department since 2001, reported the Sig Sauer .44-caliber gun as either stolen or lost from his Provincetown home at 4:20 p.m. on Feb. 24, said Provincetown police Staff Sgt. Warren Tobias. The weapon was last seen about two days before.

Hmmm....misplaced firearm.....420 pm....... province town.....I wonder if perhaps he was smoking something he found in the evidence locker before misplacing his sig....
Click to expand...
 
Hmmm....misplaced firearm.....420 pm....... province town.....I wonder if perhaps he was smoking something he found in the evidence locker before misplacing his sig....[/QUOTE]

Know the man well. Not likely.
 
BREWSTER, Mass.—A handgun reported stolen from a Provincetown police sergeant's home three months ago has been recovered, but the incident remains under investigation.
Discuss
COMMENTS (0)

Chief Jeff Jaran says the Sig Sauer P229 gun belonging to Sgt. Thomas Steele was found in a Brewster pond this week after police received a tip that it was there.

Jaran tells the Cape Cod Times police still have questions for a 17-year-old Brewster youth they think is connected to the gun's theft.

Steele reported the .40-caliber gun missing on Feb. 24. It was unloaded and stored under lock and key.

Steele is a firearms instructor and an eight-year department member with permission to use the Sig Sauer P229 in off-duty situations that may call for police response. He was cleared of any wrongdoing.
 
So did the 17-year-old thief walk into the officer's house and steal it from the safe? Sounds like there's a few pieces missing from this puzzle.
 
Chris said:
If the kid is convicted of the "Receiving Stolen Property > $250" he would be forever prohibited from ever touching a gun so long as he lives.

Anyone here actually think it's the last gun he touches?

Yea, that law works so well.....
Click to expand...

You mean..................[rolleyes]the kid might pickup another gun? Doersn't he know he's not supposed to do that? [rofl][rofl][rofl]
 
mikem317 said:
So did the 17-year-old thief walk into the officer's house and steal it from the safe? Sounds like there's a few pieces missing from this puzzle.
Click to expand...

That's always been an unsettling part of this. The PD refuses to fill in that detail and I suspect that the fact the "victim" is one of them is possibly guiding decisions on that front. Even if it is not, the appearance that it is is bad and they should fess up.
 
Sounds like they have no evidence to me, or they'd have charged him already. Unless the lock was picked, cracked, etc the owner should be charged with not conforming to storage laws. Enough of the more equal than us crap. If he somehow allowed the kid access that would still violate said laws, correct?
 
Blitz1 said:
Trigger lock?
Click to expand...

Probably, but I doubt it was on the gun they fished out of the pond. Which means the ammo was not properly stored. Now maybe the victim in this case didn't have kids, etc, but the law makes no such distinction so why no charges?
 
Hey I have a idea. Lets take the the victim of this story. A Vet, A police sargeant, as well as a firearms instructor. We can speculate on all thats happened . Then we can sit around and discuss what charges we could throw at him. That would be cool huh guys?
 
I'm surprised they didn't report it as a ".44MM Fully Automatic Assault weapon handgun. With a tastefully done Black finish set off by contrasting wooden grips highlighted by Neon self illuminating sights and decorative safety and trigger. Accessorized by a subtle Leather holster and in a crushed velvet case."
 
Palladin said:
The gun was unloaded and stored under lock and key at the time it went missing although there was no sign of forced entry into Steele's home, according to Provincetown Police Chief Jeff Jaran.
Click to expand...

There was no sign of forced entry into the cop's home. That doesn't mean the gun wasn't locked up.
 
I don't know if they was a new report about this but supposedly in Orleans a young (early twenties) first time gun owner who bought a Glock as his first handgun had it loaded with one in the pipe in his car, went home from work for a little while and when he came back out to his car, oops, bye, bye! Now he's whining that the cops have taken his ltc away.
 
Last edited:
troda said:
Hey I have a idea. Lets take the the victim of this story. A Vet, A police sargeant, as well as a firearms instructor. We can speculate on all thats happened . Then we can sit around and discuss what charges we could throw at him. That would be cool huh guys?
Click to expand...

Yeah, so because I am not "A Vet, A police sargeant, as well as a firearms instructor" it is cool to throw the book at me? Wow, the Army and county PD recruiters when I was a kid looking at schools never told of that benefit. [rolleyes]
 
wolfhook said:
I don't know if they was a new report about this but supposedly in Orleans a young (early twenties) first time gun owner who bought a Glock as his first handgun had it loaded with one in the pipe in his car, went home from work for a little while and when he came back out to his car, oops, bye, bye! Now he's whining that the cops have taken his ltc away.
Click to expand...

I suspect the difference between the two cases is one was very cognizant of his 4th and 5th amendment rights.
 

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