I had a shotgun and two rifles stolen from me during a break-in August 2008. Last February a man tried to pawn one of those rifles, and got arrested. He has an alibi for the day of the actual burglary, and he claimed to have bought the rifle from some other guy, who was questioned but never charged with anything.
Here's some of that story:
(http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=393694&page=2)
Last Friday, I finally got one of the rifles back from the PD, long after the case was disposed of, and only after months and months of diligently pestering the police and the DA's office.
I'm glad to have the 10/22 back, but I noticed a few interesting things about it:
The police in the evidence room normally secure semiautomatic guns with plastic zip strips threaded up through the magazine well and out the ejection port, blocking both mag insertion and bolt closing. That wasn't the case with my rifle. It still had a magazine (empty!) in place, with an unfastened plastic zip strip pushed up inside the chamber, barely sticking out past the bolt, with another strip fastened to the end of the first strip to make a loop. I didn't need to cut the strip to remove it, just pull it out of the chamber, which I did.
The entire stainless steel gun was black with fingerprint powder - barrel, action, stock, everything - but the clear plastic magazine was clean except for some grease.
In that grease, clear as day, is a beautifully preserved fingerprint.
I suspect they didn't know how to remove the magazine, and so didn't bother printing it.
It may be my fingerprint from when I took the mag out but I think not (I was careful when I removed it), and it may be a print belonging to the guy who tried to pawn my rifle - they already got him - but it may also be a print from the original thief, who was never caught, or someone else involved who may or may not lead me back to the other guns stolen from me.
I'm tempted to take the gun back to PD and politely ask if they dusted the magazine or not, but:
1) they may not want to admit they didn't, or take offense at my asking.
2) it took almost a year to get the rifle back in the first place, they may decide to put it back into evidence and who knows how long they'd keep it then. I want the thief (thieves) caught and punished but I also want to keep my .22!
What, fellow highroaders, should I do?
Here's some of that story:
(http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=393694&page=2)
Last Friday, I finally got one of the rifles back from the PD, long after the case was disposed of, and only after months and months of diligently pestering the police and the DA's office.
I'm glad to have the 10/22 back, but I noticed a few interesting things about it:
The police in the evidence room normally secure semiautomatic guns with plastic zip strips threaded up through the magazine well and out the ejection port, blocking both mag insertion and bolt closing. That wasn't the case with my rifle. It still had a magazine (empty!) in place, with an unfastened plastic zip strip pushed up inside the chamber, barely sticking out past the bolt, with another strip fastened to the end of the first strip to make a loop. I didn't need to cut the strip to remove it, just pull it out of the chamber, which I did.
The entire stainless steel gun was black with fingerprint powder - barrel, action, stock, everything - but the clear plastic magazine was clean except for some grease.
In that grease, clear as day, is a beautifully preserved fingerprint.
I suspect they didn't know how to remove the magazine, and so didn't bother printing it.
It may be my fingerprint from when I took the mag out but I think not (I was careful when I removed it), and it may be a print belonging to the guy who tried to pawn my rifle - they already got him - but it may also be a print from the original thief, who was never caught, or someone else involved who may or may not lead me back to the other guns stolen from me.
I'm tempted to take the gun back to PD and politely ask if they dusted the magazine or not, but:
1) they may not want to admit they didn't, or take offense at my asking.
2) it took almost a year to get the rifle back in the first place, they may decide to put it back into evidence and who knows how long they'd keep it then. I want the thief (thieves) caught and punished but I also want to keep my .22!
What, fellow highroaders, should I do?
