firearm recovery

[RoyBoy]

This is one of those "asking for a friend" questions. Four years ago a friend of mine who lives in Pittsburg, TX, Camp county, had her
home broken into. Three guns were stolen, as well as other items. Some time later, one of the firearms, a H&K pistol, was found in a
drug house in Longview, TX, Gregg County. The police took her pistol into evidence, and determined that it had been stolen from her.
It has now been four years and they have never returned it to the owner. She has talked to the sheriff in her county, as well as the Longview
PD, and all she gets is confused. The Camp county sheriff told her she may never get it back. This burglary has never resulted in a conviction.
Have any of you ever encountered this kind of problem, or can anybody offer any advice on how to resolve this situation?

[howdy]

Someone in Gregg County politics has a new H&K in their collection.

[PriestTheRunner]

Someone in Gregg County politics has a new H&K in their collection.

This would definitely be the case in Smith county.

[JustSomeOldGuy]

It's cheaper to go buy new ones then it is to pay a lawyer to crowbar it out of the police property room.

Also, you don't know what it can be linked to by forensics that happened while it was out in wild. Last thing you want is to have to use it in a self defense situation and then be linked to somebody else's felony by some overzealous Soros funded DA....

[puma guy]

After 4 years the gun most likely will not be returned and is in probably in the hands of a new owner. I have personal experience retrieving a stolen firearm that I assumed would never be returned to me. I got a call from a detective about the firearm, a .357 Ruger Blackhawk, that was recovered during the commission of and armed robbery about a year after the theft. I got the case number and the actors name from the detective and he asked if I wanted it back after the disposition of the case and of course I replied in the positive. that was the one and only conversation I ever had with anyone regarding the gun. Everytime I phoned I was told the detective was out, on vacation or simply unavailable. I gave up. Cut to about a year and a half later I ran into a friend who had retired from HPD and was working for the Harris County DA Johnny Holmes. I hadn't seen him for at least 5 year, so we spent some time catching up. Before we parted I thought why not ask him if he could check on what happened to the actor who got caught with my pistol. I couldn't remebember the case number, but I did know the name. Never heard back from my friend, but about 2-3 weeks later I got a card in the mail from my local PD saying I had 7 days to pick-up evidence being held by them and then it would be destroyed. Went to the station and was escorted back into the inner sanctum to a desk and a young lady. gave her the card and we went over to a closet. She pull a white paper bag out with a string tag on it and handed it to me. I told her it was a firearm so she said leave it in the bag, which, I knew I should do anyway. There were some details noted on the tag that the case was disposed about six months after he was caught. Except for a ding on the outside of the muzzle where I suppose it hit the pavement when cops told him to drop it, it was fine. Still have it. Wasn't 4 years, but quite a while. Maybe she should call the DA.
I wonder what would happen if she reported the gun stolen again and gave the information as to who has it!

[carlson1]

I worked a side job (Deputy Sheriff at the time) -as security for Kelly Springfield Tires in Tyler. After months and month I got tired of wearing my gun rig. I started taking just a shot gun with me. This is very very embarrassing, but remember I was basically a kid. I walked down and would take the newspaper out of a yard every morning about 4:30.

Well I came back after my little walk, set down and opened the newspaper. Guess what? My shotgun was missing. I had no other gun and the bad guys had my shotgun. There was no 911 then. I called the Sheriff’s Office immediately. The Calvary arrived. No one was found. You can imagine the problems I received from my co-workers.

It was found and had been used in a robbery in Dallas. They had cut the barrel off so I couldn’t get it back. I learned a huge lesson. All of the other jobs I worked on the side I wore my gun rig at all times.

[puma guy]

I worked a side job (Deputy Sheriff at the time) -as security for Kelly Springfield Tires in Tyler. After months and month I got tired of wearing my gun rig. I started taking just a shot gun with me. This is very very embarrassing, but remember I was basically a kid. I walked down and would take the newspaper out of a yard every morning about 4:30.

Well I came back after my little walk, set down and opened the newspaper. Guess what? My shotgun was missing. I had no other gun and the bad guys had my shotgun. There was no 911 then. I called the Sheriff’s Office immediately. The Calvary arrived. No one was found. You can imagine the problems I received from my co-workers.

It was found and had been used in a robbery in Dallas. They had cut the barrel off so I couldn’t get it back. I learned a huge lesson. All of the other jobs I worked on the side I wore my gun rig at all times.

I was lucky to get mine back. When the detective called me about catching the guy with my Blackhawk, I made a comment about what dummy uses a single action revolver in a hijacking? Apparently he was a wise enough to know he couldn't out gun guys with semi-autos and dropped it as I said. I lost my truck SG when I went up to help my daughter and son-in-law in Fischer for a week and half when he was incapacitated with knee surgery. They had a fiasco crew working damage from the big chill that were the worst -long story- any way they gave them one day to finish one area and get their equipment and never come back. I had it one the rear floor board and didn't lock my truck. I didn't realize it was gone until I was getting ready to leave. It was a JC Higgins (Hi-Standard) pump that had been cut to 18½". I really liked it because the mag held 5 rounds and it had a magazine cut-off so you could rack it and single load a shell.

My brother had a burglary and lost all his guns including a Winchester Pigeon Grade O/U three barrel skeet set and a Pigeon grade trap O/U. They caught the kids that did it a couple of days later at a video game room. They had several of the coffee cans of full of quarters he had reported. They had their palm prints from a window they slid up to get inside. He was told they were being used by a couple of adults in the vicinity to rob houses and they were not given much punishment and he never was told if they prosecuted the adults. Winchester only made 250 sets of the three barrel O/U. The PD said they didn't recover any of his guns. Kind of hard to believe that, but that's they way it goes.

[LSUTiger]

Make sure you have a picture and the serial number of all your firearms.

I had a Marlin Model 60 .22LR stolen, I reported it and had evidence of who may have taken it. It was later recovered by police from that same person and I was notified that they had it.

However, when I called the PD to arrange to pick it up, the PD would not return it because I could not properly identify it to their standards. I new it when I saw it by all of its character (scratches and defects). But I did not have the serial number. They told me they had an evidence locker full of similar guns, They would not let me look at them or even be bothered to look for it with out a serial number.

I seriously wonder if its a case of proper identification or simply laziness on the part of the PD???

I don't think it was involved in any crime but it was not worth my time to try to get back. It was something my father left me when he passed away but it was in very bad shape and besides sentimental value not worth very much money.

[Keith B]

If there has been no conviction, they may keep it indefinitely. Would probably require a lawyer or sympathetic head LEO to get possession back.

On a flip type of keeping a gun, my wife manages an apartment complex that her boss owns. They had a tenant move out overnight and left a Ruger P95 in a kitchen cabinet, along with other miscellaneous items in the apartment.

She called me when the cleaning lady found it. I went to the apartment and secured it and called the county sheriffs office and had them run the serial number to see if it was stolen, etc. Nothing in NCIC, state or local records. Brought it home and stored it in the safe in case the tenant whose name was on the lease came back looking for it.

Fast forward 4 plus years later, a girl (supposedly the guys ex-girlfriend) comes into the office looking for ‘a pistol’ that was left there. Said it belonged to her Dad. Wife said she’d check into it and see if they could possibly find it. Called me and I advised to tell her that the firearm was legally acquired from abandoned property in the apartment, and since she was just the girlfriend and not the person on the lease, it would only be released to her if she could produce a bill of sale or at least the serial number, and also show she could legally posses a firearm. She said she would get a lawyer, and I told her to have them call me, but even if they could provide documentation, that there would be a $10 per month storage fee assessed, which after 4+ years, at $480+ it would be a lot cheaper to go buy another one. Needless to say, that’s been a couple of years ago and it is still being ‘stored’ $$$$$$$.