Darwin Honorable Mention: Hide the pipe bomb BEFORE calling police...

[Dalmatian90]

The haul: http://wtimg.us.publicus.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=WT&Date=20040401&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=404010454&Ref=AR&Profile=1025&title=1&MaxW=425&MaxH=380

The guy: http://wtimg.us.publicus.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=WT&Date=20040401&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=404010454&Ref=V7&Profile=1025&title=1&MaxW=425&MaxH=380

[/i]
WORCESTER- An alleged victim of a home invasion was arraigned yesterday in Central District Court on charges stemming from the discovery by police of six assault weapons and a pipe bomb in his apartment.

Police found the weapons and arrested David W. Simpson, 36, of 13 Hacker St., Apt. 3, after responding to a report of a home invasion at his apartment about 11:40 p.m. Tuesday. The discovery of the weapons prompted an evacuation of the three-decker, police said.

During the alleged home invasion, a 65-year-old woman in the apartment was held at knife point by two suspects who demanded money, according to Sgt. Gary J. Quitadamo, police spokesman.

Mr. Simpson is facing multiple weapons charges and was arraigned before Judge Martha A. Brennan. He was ordered held on $50,000 cash bail and his case was continued to April 28 for pretrial conference.

The cache of weapons included seven rifles, including six assault-type weapons with one fully loaded, large-capacity magazine ready for use, police said.

Two men initially knocked on the front door stating that it was a pizza delivery, police said. They then went to the rear entrance and kicked the door in.

As Mr. Simpson reached for a rifle, a suspect held a knife to the neck of the woman, whose identity is being withheld, and demanded that Mr. Simpson drop his gun, according to Sgt. Quitadamo.

The suspects took an undetermined amount of money from the woman's purse and fled, the sergeant said.

As Officers Allan J. Burnes and Daniel Dowd arrived to investigate the report of a breaking and entering-home invasion, they noticed a loaded AK-47 assault rifle on the couch, police said.

Authorities also seized two SKS assault rifles, Chinese models; a Ruger mini 30 semiautomatic; and a .22 caliber Ruger, model 1022, and one other assault weapon. Police seized 71 large-capacity magazines. They also discovered more than 1,000 rounds of assorted ammunition in plain view, police said.

A relative of Mr. Simpson told NECN's Worcester News Tonight that he had purchased the assault rifles as investments before they were banned.

Lt. Thomas Gaffney and Sgt. Brian Donohue were at the scene shortly after officers discovered the pipe bomb in a kitchen area. The bomb, a 30-inch cylinder with duct tape, was found on top of a cabinet.

A state police bomb squad unit - Matthew Murray, Michael Rosowski and Robert McCarthy - X-rayed the device.

Mr. Simpson was charged with possession of an infernal machine, 71 counts of possession of a high-capacity feeding device, possession of a magazine without a license, seven counts of possession of a firearm without a license, and seven counts of improperly storing a large-capacity firearm. None of the firearms had trigger locks, police said.

Sgt. Quitadamo said Mr. Simpson's firearms license expired in 1999.

Police are searching for two suspects. No descriptions were available. Anyone with information may call the Detective Bureau at (508) 799-8651.
[/i]

[MalahatTwo7]

I'm just shaking my head on that one. It runs hand in hand with a series of arrests that were made here in town yesterday. I dont have the full details, but police raided a house and found a very large sum of cash, weapons and drugs.

The reason they got the search warrent is because earlier, Fisheries Officers had been exercising a warrant on grounds of illegal abalonie (protected shellfish) possession. Go figure eh.

Officers net bigger fish in abalone raid

Norman Gidney Times Colonist Thursday, April 01, 2004

An identification officer helps search a house at 1298 Les Meadows Place during a raid Wednesday. Fisheries officers were looking for poached abalone, but found much more than the endangered shellfish.

CREDIT: Darren Stone, Times Colonist

They went looking for abalone in Saanich on Wednesday, but fisheries enforcement officers also found cash, cocaine, guns and piles of store merchandise.

Five fisheries staff from Nanaimo and Victoria used a search warrant at 8:30 a.m. to enter a residence in the 1200-block of Les Meadows Place, near Blenkinsop Road and Royal Oak Drive.

They got their abalone, but it was all the other items found in the large house during the search for illegal shellfish that prompted a call to Saanich police.

Fisheries officers backed out, secured the premises to ensure none of the goods were removed and no one left, and waited for Saanich police, said Larry Paike from the Department of Fisheries.

The police street-crimes unit obtained its own warrant at mid-afternoon, and then spent hours on a separate investigation and a room-to-room search of the house.

Const. Chris Horsley said a huge amount of cash was seized, so much that police borrowed a bill-counting machine from a local bank to count it all on the spot. He said it amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Drugs were discovered, along with a loaded rifle, more ammunition lying in the open, and other guns, according to Paike.

Large amounts of clothing and store merchandise were also in the house. For example, Horsley said, among the loot were five dozen pairs of Tommy Hilfiger jeans with price tags still attached.

Fisheries officers searching the premises earlier in the day located eight dozen abalone in a freezer.

Commercial and recreational harvesting of the threatened West Coast shellfish have been banned since 1990.

A 41-year-old man found at the house was taken to Saanich Police Department to face charges under the Fisheries Act and criminal charges regarding unsafe storage of a firearm.

Saanich police expected to be at the home well into the night, said Horsley. A large extended family lives there, and everyone from toddlers to grandparents was at home while police searched the place, he said.

Fisheries staff was following up leads that came from the seizure of 446 live abalone two months ago in Sooke, said Paike, fisheries supervisor for Victoria and Duncan areas.

As part of that earlier investigation, fisheries officers searched a Duncan home and found information that led to the Saanich house.

"We're still gathering evidence," said Paike, who described the seized abalone as good-sized ones appearing to average a pound apiece. Fisheries staff have heard that abalone sell for about $30 a pound, making the latest seizure worth almost $3,000.

Paike said "They're large numbers. It's not just someone who goes out and wonders what they taste like and takes one home for dinner."

"They're dealing with a quantity over and above what you'd need for personal use," he said.

Poaching is believed to be the sole reason abalone haven't recovered since harvesting was banned 14 years ago. Paike said fisheries biologists cannot point to any predators or disease as a reason.

The man arrested at the scene faces charges under Section 33 of the Fisheries Act, which states that "no person shall buy, sell or possess any fish unlawfully caught."

Maximum penalty is a $500,000 fine and/or two years in jail if the Crown proceeds by indictment. A summary conviction could , the top fine would be $100,000 and/or a year in jail.

© Copyright 2004 Times Colonist (Victoria)

[firespec35]

Ok first "pop". There goes the can of worms.

The first story kinda disturbs me. Ok the dude had a pipe bomb. That's bad! but from the sounds of the article the guy had guns no different than the ones that any of us have. OOH an AK-47. Any of you own a .308 rifle, same thing. 2 SKS's ok they're cheap .308's a mini-30. It's a .308 deer gun. a 10-22 it's a .22 for god sakes. And what's this posession of a weapon w/o a license, do you have to have licenses for rifles in wherever Worchester is (Mass?). That's just wrong. I will conceed that it looks like the dude had some other bad stuff ie the numchucks and some wickedly long magazines and a whole lotta ammo. but why do they have to keep harping on the guns. Harp on the bad stuff. I know people with a whole lot worse guns than this guy and they're legal. Coverage like this just gives the anti-gun liberals more momentum. Oh yeah, I forgot that is the media.

[Dalmatian90]

do you have to have licenses for rifles in wherever Worchester is (Mass?).

While the MA laws are a spider web, here's the synopsis:

Possession of "Large Capacity" rifles & shotguns in Massachusetts require a Class B Non-concealed Weapons Carry permit.

Possession of "Large Capacity" firearms (includes pistols) require a Class A Concealed Weapons Carry Permit.

Standard long arms need a Firearms Identification Card if you want to purchase, leave your house with them, hunt, etc. MA rifle/shotgun hunters need an FIC in addition to their hunting license.

The Class B & A permit process gives the local police Chief considerable discretion in whether to issue or revoke the permit; the FIC is pretty much a standard issue if you meet the statutory requirements.

While the calibers may be the same as hunting rifles, it's the magazine capacity that makes the difference.

I work in MA, live in CT. Ironically, it's easier to get a concealed weapons permit in CT and there's nothing like a FIC, but CT outright bans sales/transfers and highly restricts the transport/use of "assault" weapons down to descriptions beyond high capacity magazines to include pistol grips, folding stocks, etc. Left wing feel good politics :rolleyes:

[ffexpCP]

.