Victims of theft wait for guns to be returned

[MaineCWPtraining]

May 21, 2010

LEWISTON — Just under two years ago, 14 guns were stolen during an overnight break-in at Pine Tree Trading. In time, police and federal agents rounded up the suspects. The guns were recovered and the thieves went to court.

They were convicted. End of story.

Only, not so much for the owners of Pine Tree. During the trial this week, Marcel Morin stood in U.S. District Court in Portland looking over the 14 guns that had been taken from him. They were spread out neatly on a table.

Yes, Marcel told the court. Those were his guns.

He was thanked and sent on his way. He had to leave the guns behind.

“Now that,” he said, “is frustrating.”

It has been 22 months since the burglary at the Lisbon Street pawn shop and still, the guns are being held as evidence by the federal court.

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[Misbehaven]

Wow, I'd be pissed! Their property should be returned.

 

[Pilgrim]

another way to 'get guns off the street'.

 

[bullseye]

Why shouldn't those that authorize the confiscation now be charged with theft of property? After all. they are illegally hiding behind the law and preventing due process from happening by returning the firearms from their rightful owner.

 

[LoginName]

75 or 80 grand for 14 handguns?

Must have been some pretty nice and/or collectible firearms.

 

[atmay]

75 or 80 grand for 14 handguns?

Must have been some pretty nice and/or collectible firearms.

Average of $5714.29 each for a total of $80k.

"Pretty nice" sounds about right lol.

 

[Rob Boudrie]

“They want to keep the guns until sentencing. And then, they’ll hang on to them until his appeals are all used up,”

This happened to a friend's 1911 in NY a decade or so ago. The suspect was out on bail and picked up a case of fatal lead poisoning, at which point the system was finally willing to give him back his gun.

I wonder if stolen cars are retained as evidence for the duration of the legal process?

 

[Half Cocked]

I wonder if stolen cars are retained as evidence for the duration of the legal process?

Yes.... the feds routinely retain the evidence at the least until sentencing. This is nothing new and/or unusual.......

 

[Half Cocked]

Why shouldn't those that authorize the confiscation now be charged with theft of property? After all. they are illegally hiding behind the law and preventing due process from happening by returning the firearms from their rightful owner.

Are you serious?

 

[PatMcD]

The last part says the Hatch kid who was sentenced to three months in the Fed pen is already out. I wonder if Marcel (a hell of a nice guy, btw) could send the Feds a bill at least for the interest on the purchase price of those guns.

 

[Rob Boudrie]

75 or 80 grand for 14 handguns?

Must have been some pretty nice and/or collectible firearms.

Bogus math, just like the calculation of "street value" after a drug bust. You can come up with crazy numbers, like making an assumption that each gun represents a piece of inventory that would have turned over 50 times with a $100 profit on each sale. Of course, that assumes (a) massive turn rate; (b) decent profit margin, and (c) An inability of the dealer to fill those slots on the shelf due to capital shortage. Absent those factors, the only "loss", assuming he gets the guns back in original condition, is the interest on the cash value of the guns, and any discount he has to offer because they are older models that might not sell as easily as they would when they were new stock.

It's like the software companies claiming a $X million loss on pirated software, calculating each unofficial install as one that claim would have sold for full retail but for the piracy (when, in reality, most installations simply would not have happened).