(CO) Man suing police to get his guns returned

[Drizzt]

Man suing police

By Pamela Dickman
The Daily Reporter-Herald
A Loveland man is suing the Loveland Police Department, asking a judge to make the police return guns and ammunition he claims they are illegally holding.

Richard Petersen filed suit Sept. 16 in Larimer County Court. He has asked Judge Christine Carney to order the return of four guns, ammunition and accessories worth $4,865.

The city has not yet responded to the claim. Its attorneys have until Oct. 13 to do so.

City Attorney John Duval said his staff is working on that response.

“I can’t comment on it any more,” Duval said Thursday.

In the suit, Petersen claims a Loveland detective entered his home May 4, 2004, at the request of his landlord as a witness to ensure the landlord did nothing inappropriate.

He claims the officer illegally searched his house then returned, without a warrant or cause, and seized the weapons, which police will not return.

Duval admits the city does have some of Petersen’s guns.

“The guns were turned over to us by his landlord,” Duval said.

However, he did not say why the city would not return them.

“That will be in our answer” filed in court, Duval explained.

The city did offer Petersen $1,550 for his property, Duval said. Petersen did not accept.

In April, Petersen told the Reporter-Herald in an e-mail that he declined the offer because the list used to estimate the value was not a complete list of his property held by police.

http://www.lovelandfyi.com/Top-Story.asp?ID=2388

Something is really weird with all this...

 

[Alex45ACP]

If this happened to me, I'd simply have to go take them back personally

 

[Buck Snort]

Some cops are great guys and some cops have an ax to grind.

 

[motoman]

Sounds like a clear cut burglary to me. Why aren't charges being filed. This guy should contact the BATFE and file stolen gun reports.

 

[Matthew748]

“The guns were turned over to us by his landlord,” Duval said.

When did the landlord ever have title to Richard’s guns and other personal property? It sounds to me like this theft was a joint effort. If possessing the guns violated Richard Petersen’s lease agreement the landlord should have taken that up with Richard, not the police.

 

[Crosshair]

This guy is going to get a large chunk of change, and diserve it too. Cops need to know they can't pull this crap.

 

[AGD1776]

Whwnever the gov't. gets it's hands on your guns it is a pain to ever get it back. I had a gun stolen from me and it took me a year to get it back after the police recovered it.

 

[Pilgrim]

In the suit, Petersen claims a Loveland detective entered his home May 4, 2004, at the request of his landlord as a witness to ensure the landlord did nothing inappropriate.

He claims the officer illegally searched his house then returned, without a warrant or cause, and seized the weapons, which police will not return.

Duval admits the city does have some of Petersen’s guns.

“The guns were turned over to us by his landlord,” Duval said.

I hope Petersen doesn't ignore the landlord in pursuing legal redress. A landlord's authority to enter the premises of a tenant is limited to scheduled inspections and/or repair after giving prior notice to the tenant. Unscheduled entries are to deal with emergency situations such as smoke, water leaking, etc.

The city attorney seems to be looking for a way out. "The guns were turned over to us by his landlord." Does this mean the Loveland detective was a principal in the burglary of Petersen's home?

I sincerely hope Petersen has a really good attorney here. He might even end up with a nice house out of it.

Pilgrim

 

[spocahp anar]

Sounds like the guy may be in breech of payment of rent. If you fail to pay rent then you must go to court file for eviction and then once the eviction is served by the LEO then you have a certain time in which to vacate. If you fail to vacate then the Sherriff goes to the house with you and escorts the tenants out. If the tenants are gone then you have the right to vacate their belongings. I can't remember the laws on possession of left property. I think you can dispose of the property as you see fit. If the tenant was in default and had guns then the Sherrif would have the authority to remove them, but I believe they would have to be returned.

 

[spocahp anar]

Fact that they are offering payment shows they know they are in the wrong; I bet some of htose weapons have already fopund their way to some detective's locker.

 

[Pilgrim]

I can't remember the laws on possession of left property. I think you can dispose of the property as you see fit. If the tenant was in default and had guns then the Sherrif would have the authority to remove them, but I believe they would have to be returned.

It depends on the state. In the PDRK, the landlord had to store any personal belongings left behind after an eviction for fifteen days. If after fifteen days the tenant had not claimed the personal belongings and paid fair storage fees, the landlord had to follow the law in disposing the property. If the value of the abandoned property was less than $300, the landlord could keep it or throw it away. If the value was $300 or more, the landlord had to conduct a public auction. After the auction, the landlord could deduct storage fees and the cost of the auction. If the landlord also had a money judgment against the tenant, the landlord could also apply money gained from the auction towards satisfaction of the judgment.

After storage fees, auction costs, and money judgment were satisfied, if there was any left the landlord had to pay the remainer to the tenant. If the tenant could not be found, the landlord had to deposit the excess with the county treasurer in the name of the tenant.

Pilgrim

 

[Standing Wolf]

The "article" merely scratches the surface of the full story.

 

[Molon Labe]

Was he home when they burglarized his home? If so, he should have shot the thieves...

 

[hoppinglark]

"The "article" merely scratches the surface of the full story."

Care to fill us in on the whole story?

I'd really like to know what's going on here.

 

[tulsamal]

Not a difficult prediction. This thread is on THR. It mentions the police. It says things about them that might be considered critical of them. Therefore, this thread will soon be locked. Can we start some kind of pool on how long it will be?

Gregg

 

[Beren]

This might be really difficult to follow along, but please try: criticism of anyone is fine and dandy. When you jump over the edge into moonbat rantings of how all police everywhere and everywhen are corrupt thugs and how you're going to go at them with your nine - yes, I will lock the thread.

 

[Standing Wolf]

Care to fill us in on the whole story?

If I knew the full story, I'd certainly share it. There's not enough in the "article" to base a judgement upon.

 

[yorec]

Agreed Standing Wolf - not too hard to tell that there is more to this without knowing exactly what it all is...

 

[TheEgg]

“The guns were turned over to us by his landlord,” Duval said.

This is just plain goofy -- makes me think that the whole thing is a massive FUBAR by the authorities.

The offer of money to the gun-owner furthers this theory.

 

[spocahp anar]

This leads me to believe the guy was in breech of rent.

 

[hoppinglark]

The whole thing sounds weird and I want to know what REALLY happend.

 

[GunGoBoom]

Absolutely outrageous (if true). He deserves punitive damages for this conversion (civil counterpart to theft/larceny). The cop should be punished and jailed for this theft, in addition to his supervisor if the supervisor approved it. He'd better get a huge settlement or something is *seriously* wrong with our system.

 

[rpetersen]

I am richard petersen

I am Richard Petersen and if you are interested in learning the full story please contact me at [email protected].

Not only did the police remove 8 firearms, 3 rifles and 5 pistols, from my residence 4 of those firearms and approximately 60 boxes of ammunition disappeared.

My ex-landlord Rick Brent, with the aid of his attorney Jack Weatherill, filed at least three blatantly false written statments with the Loveland Police about the gun thefts and how Brent's sister and brother in law, Cleo and Roger Hansen, come into possession of property I had reported as stolen.

The Loveland Police, City Manager and City Attorney are all aware that Brent lied to the police. The detective, Thomas Vermilye, who was present during the seizure of the guns has also been caught falsifing several reports.

Instead of investigating the crime the City Manager, Loveland Police, Reporter-Herald News Paper and Weatherill have all threatened to have me arrested if I attempt to contact them about the theft of more than $20,000.00 of my property. The Manager, Weatherill and the Reporter-Hearld served me with "no trespass notices". I would be arrested if I attempted to contact them.

The threats arose out of my delivering to the City Manager documents which revealed Brent's and Vermilye's lies. After delivering the documents I visited Pamela Dickman and suggested that she contact the City Manager to ask him about the documents he had just recieved. Dickman agreed to do so. I have audio recordings of my conversations with all of the parties involved.

Vermilye reported that there were only 4 guns in the residence on May 4, 2004. On May 5, 2004 Vermilye made a statement to Victoriez Jerome that he had removed a large number of guns and more ammunition from the residence than the police department keeps in stock.

When I went public with information Detective Vermilye and Officer Joe Berdin attempted to file a "Criminal Libel" complaint against me. That complaint is a felony in Colorado.

My guns and other propety were stolen. The police have never done any investigation. The only people in the residence have all been caught lying and the police threaten to have me arrested for speaking the truth.

I have just scratched the surface. If you want to learn more feel free to contact me.

Thanks.

 

[W.E.G.]

Sounds like a fun series of depositions.

 

[TexasRifleman]

This leads me to believe the guy was in breach of rent.

Sounds like it to me.

Well Mr Petersen? If that's you would you care to explain? You posted more but still there is really no information in any of this.

Did you owe back rent? Were you evicted? Did your rental agreement allow the landlord to come in and take property to try to get his back rent paid?

Lots of questions here before calling for any lynchings.....

And most importantly I think you need an attorney. His first order to you would probably be to shut up about the whole thing in public.

But if you want to talk about it, there are some questions to start with.