http://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080307/NEWS/803070482
Friday, March 7, 2008
Stolen gun is found burned
Two 13-year-olds facing charges
By Ellie Oleson CORRESPONDENT
OXFORD— A handgun reported missing in January was found Wednesday, burned and in pieces in the woods off Leicester Street. Two teenage boys have been charged in the case.
“We got the gun back. I can sleep at night,” said Police Chief Michael J. Boss.
The weapon was first reported missing Jan. 22 from the gun safe of Michelle L. and Michael P. Laramee of 19 Leicester St.
At the time, Mrs. Laramee said she and her husband were licensed to carry firearms and she decided to do an inventory of their weapons after a 22-gauge shotgun shell was found in the boys’ bathroom in Oxford High School Jan. 22.
“We were horrified to find that a gun was missing,” she said.
She and Mr. Laramee called police to report that a 9 mm Glock semiautomatic handgun and two clips with a total of 25 rounds of ammunition were missing.
As a result of an investigation by Officer Jeromy T. Grniet and Detective William C. Marcelonis, police on Jan. 23 arrested Alan T. Bates, 17, of 20 Leicester St. and two 16-year-olds. They were charged with possession of a firearm, larceny of a firearm, and breaking into a gun safe.
A teenager, whose parents asked that he not be identified, was walking in the woods off Leicester Street Wednesday afternoon, “scoping out a place to hunt,” when he saw what appeared to be a gun sticking out of the ground. The boy called his father, who contacted state Trooper Jay Willard, who contacted the Oxford police, Chief Boss said.
Officer Grniet and Detective Marcelonis went to the site and found the slide and barrel of the missing pistol.
“All the plastic parts had melted in a fire,” Chief Boss said.
Two 13-year-old boys were arrested Wednesday evening and later released to the custody of their parents. Yesterday, they were arraigned in Juvenile Court at Dudley District Court on charges of larceny of a firearm, breaking into a depository, improper storage of a large firearm near a minor, and unlawful possession of guns.
Chief Boss said the two boys, one a relative of the gun owner, had found the key to the gun safe, gone into it and removed the handgun in October.
“One boy put the gun in his backpack with his Halloween candy,” Chief Boss said.
The boys took the gun into the woods off Leicester Street, where they both fired it, and then hid the gun “unsecured and unattended” in a play fort they had there.
Two weeks later, they returned to the area and had a campfire. “They thought they had put the campfire out, but came back later to find one of their mothers putting out a fire,” Chief Boss said.
The boys later returned and searched for the gun, finding only the metal slide and barrel.
“These two boys knew of the other three boys being charged, and they remained silent,” Chief Boss said.
He said it is likely that most of the charges against the three other boys will be dropped, though they probably will still face charges for having gone into the gun safe.
“There were other guns in that safe,” Chief Boss said. “As far as I know, there are no guns in that house at this time.”
He said police had been concerned that the missing weapon might be used in a dangerous or criminal manner.
“Thanks to that very responsible boy who found the gun, we now know that gun is destroyed and won’t be used again,” Chief Boss said.
No connection was found between the gun and the shotgun shell found at Oxford High School. A second shotgun shell was found in the girls’ bathroom at Oxford High School on Feb. 1.
No charges have been filed in either high school case.