Stolen gun returned by Athol PD

[Coyote33]

20-year-old cold case is partially solved Stolen gun turns up on Phoenix street

see also:
http://www.juststolen.net/

Sep 8, 2007

20-year-old cold case is partially solved

Stolen gun turns up on Phoenix street

By George Barnes TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
[email protected]


ATHOL— Cold cases aren’t always lost causes.

Athol Police Sgt. Kent A. Hager had been a patrolman for less than two years when Athol resident Matteo J. Giuffre called to report two of his pistols had been stolen. The thief was never caught and the lost guns, a .22-caliber Ruger and a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson, had long ago been marked as missing, probably lost for good.

But in March, Sgt. Hager, now a 22-year veteran of the department, was contacted by the Phoenix, Ariz., Police Department and told one of the long-gone guns had been found. He said a resident of Phoenix went out of his house at 6:30 a.m. and found Mr. Giuffre’s .22-caliber Ruger and a rifle in the street in front of his home.


Sgt. Hager said the person considered keeping the guns, then thought better of it. His father convinced him to take them to a pawn shop to have the registration numbers researched to find out who owned them. The owner of the pawn shop refused to run the numbers through his computer so the person who found the guns called the Phoenix police.

“They determined it was stolen out of Massachusetts and sent us information,” he said.

Athol police then sent back reports confirming the pistol had been stolen two decades ago and Phoenix police shipped the gun to Athol. The rifle found with the pistol had not been reported stolen at the time of its recovery.

Where the pistol has been and how it found its way to Phoenix is still a mystery. Mr. Giuffre said whoever stole the pistols did little damage to his home and did not take anything else. The Ruger was something he used mostly for target shooting at a local pistol club.

“I haven’t done any shooting since,” he said.

Mr. Giuffre said he also long ago threw away the boxes the guns came in and were stolen out of during the house break-in. He said he was surprised when Sgt. Hager called him with the good news.

Sgt. Hager said it is extremely rare to recover items missing for as many years as Mr. Giuffre’s pistol was out on the streets.

“I can’t remember anything of importance like that being recovered,” he said, adding, “This is like a nice ending to the closing of this station house.”

A new Athol police station will be open to the public for tours today and the department will soon move out of its quarters in the basement of Town Hall. But as it moves to its new building, one cold case it is taking with it is at least partially solved.

 

[Martlet]

Arizona is going to start complaining that Massachusetts is killing their kids with it's gun problems.

 

[9000S]

awww

Man, Martlet and I thought this was going to be a positve thread!!

 

[Rob Boudrie]

One point to note - if you have a stolen gun reported, the protocol is for the recovering agency to report it to the agency that oringinally reported it stolen. If you move, you should always make sure the PD that took the report updates the case with your current contact info.

Guns *do* make it back from time to time - I know someone who got his 1911 back that was recovered in another state.