Lost and Recovered

7

745SW

New member
Recently I lost my home and needed to vacate, not an easy thing to do because it was home for over three decades. Was not able to remove all possessions and forgot about my S&W 66-2 revolver in with some towels in a drawer of the hallway. The house was gutted to the frame internally for renovation. The demolition crew did salvage some stuff that was of some value but not the 66-2. Went to the police station a day or so later to report the missing pistol. From the get go the officer said the pistol was reported stolen around 83 and again around 05. I show images of the box having the model and SN. Later a detective texts me to come in again. I find the receipt dated 82 and texted the image to the detective. Exactly a week after the demolition the lead guy of the crew returns my 66-2. Appears to have not hit the dumpster at all. I was happy to give a reward. I texted the image of the pistol to the detective and now he wants me to bring all related stuff in. What do you think?
 
I think the detective will have questions regarding the theft reports.

Whether or not you should even show up, I'll leave that question to the lawyers.
 
Yes, you reported it lost, go give him the info, especially if they have reports of it being stolen. Is the gun shop you bought it from still in existence? They may still have the original 4473 in hand, maybe not, since it's over 25 years. Glad to hear of your re-uniting!
 
As most gun stores in my area they are long gone. Even Turner's the only chain I know of has changed owners a number of times within the last couple of decades.
 
Good chance the officer was looking only at the serial numbers and they could have been for a completely different make or model even. If I remember correctly, the paperwork you fill out there in Ca. when you purchase a handgun is sent to the state Dept. of Justice and is supposed to be destroyed by them after a short period of time and only used as supporting info for the purchase. At least that is how it was some years back when I was selling guns there. If this is still the case, there is no way to verify the purchase through the state.
I had a case many years ago there where I purchased a used handgun from a friend's gun shop in California. I filled out all the necessary paperwork and took possession of it. Several weeks later, he called me and asked me to return it, as it had been reported stolen. It turns out that a large retailer was doing an inventory and found some missing guns....one of their employees was shuffling around the paperwork and destroying some in order to steal the guns.
No telling how your officer will follow through on your situation, but I would suggest you try to get it all straightened out, because you don't want to get into a legal hassle with them. You don't want to have to deal with California lawyers...that's a no win situation.
 
I might be nuts, but false stolen reports are going to be hard to clear up. I would visit a lawyer first and shoe him what you have.....gun, box, papers and an outstanding phone call from the pd.

If you are legally required to go to the pd, then you will likely end up going. What you bring and what you say should be prediscussed with your counsel.
 
IMO a revolver can be kept loaded wirtually for a intimate time when it's protected from the elements. The loaded autoloader is kept closer to my person.

I knew of a school teacher that kept a loaded arm in every room. I guess we differ in our own ways.
 
The detective has pushed the appointment from this past Friday.to sometime this week. No time/date given.

Communication is text because that is my preference. In later communication at least he used the expression "please".
 
If you didn't do anything wrong and can somewhat document that I would say just go in discuss it, you might walk out with the gun. My first thought is that common sense should prevail but then again, you live in California so that's no guarantee.
 
If you have the original receipt, and have been in possession of the gun since then, the officer made a mistake, as Jag said. Another thing is possession of the original box. I wouldn't think that many stolen guns come in the original purchase box. Having those, I would go to the police station and get it cleared up after a talk with a lawyer who knows California gun laws. Sadly, you do live in California, so who knows what will happen. Keep us informed how it goes.
 
I've owned all of my firearms since new from retailers/dealers. The only pistol exception is one of four S&W 745's I bought used from a retailer/dealer. Several long guns I own were transferred to me years ago because the owner had a court order to get rid.

Ironically I was about to have the S&W 66-2 box sold at shows because of my changed living situation. Was able to have the box retreived before it sold.
 
"False" stolen reports are not uncommon, because many of them are not "false" but falsely interpreted.

This is because LOTS of guns have the same serial numbers. Some makers use identical serial number runs for different models, S&W has done this, lots of others have as well. Lugers used a repeating 0001-9999 number block, with a letter suffix.

If the data the cop looks at (and especially since these days it will be condensed on the computer) its likely he sees STOLEN; S&W, caliber .357 ser# XXXXYZ, date and person reporting it, and likely little else.

often that is all the information reported. SO your model 66, your buddy's model 19, and my model 28, all S&Ws, all .357s, and (could) all have the same serial number. Its likely the cop doesn't know about that, and thinks two different stolen reports, years apart, and your lost (and now recovered pistol) are all the same gun and simply wants to talk so he can figure out what is actually going on.

Won't hurt to talk to a lawyer before you talk to the police, though. And my personal paranoia would keep me from bringing the gun with me to the cop shop (misunderstandings can happen) but receipts, the original box, and any other supporting evidence, I would have available to show them, if needed.
 
I thought I replied earlier, but it appears that the internet ate my homework. So, to simplify...

I'm with 44AMP, in that I would be more than willing to meet with the officer and provide all documentation and evidence that I had available. However, I would very seriously consider consulting an attorney first (*), and I would not be likely to take the revolver with me.
As he mentioned, there's a lot of misinterpretation when it comes to stolen firearms databases, and it's likely that everything will be fine.

But, you never know...


*I know attorney's fees could be hard to swallow, under the circumstances. If I were in that situation, it would be a choice between the value of the revolver and the cost of an attorney, should I be thinking that I might lose the firearm.
 
The last thing you want to do is ignore the police officer or not show up to a meeting. Be up front, be honest, and do you research ahead of time. If you can show ownership, you'll be fine.
 
You are not legally obligated to talk to the detective... but I personally would take in a copy of the original purchase receipt and a photo of the revolver (S/N showing). Have respect for the process of attempting to catch REAL criminals by cooperating, but I don't blame you for a desire to be reserved about the information you give. This is coming from an LEO investigator. I have seen some sloppy work in my time. Nothing wrong with asking an attorney for advice first either.

Others are correct. NCIC hits can come up just from Serial Number matches. It's up to the individual Officer to also check the model number, manufacturer, and other relevant information on the entry.
 
All the pics I've sent showed all info available. The last pic of the actual 66-2 revolver shows the cylinder swung out exposing SN. Pic was large at 2.5MB and eventually got it to upload. Even enlarged/zoomed the SN is clearly viewable.

Today Monday I have yet to hear back from the detective.
 
If he calls back point out that he has a copy of the receipt and photo of the revolver with s/n showing. I would ask what else he wants to talk about. It is a fair question.

Now that I think about it, it is entirely possible they want to remove the "stolen gun" NCIC entry and would like "eyes on" confirmation first.
 
There's so much going on here, I can see why a police detective would have some suspicions. Like why did the OP report a missing firearm when he knew exactly where he left it. After reporting it missing he now reports it found after it was reported stolen ....twice. If the gun wasn't worth enough to remember to remove it from the vacated house in the first place, it probably isn't worth the lawyer fees. If the OP has documentation that the gun is his he has nuttin' to worry about. Pictures themselves mean nuttin' really.....the detective probably just wants to see the gun in person to verify it's what the OP claims.

What a clustermess.
 
You want to get into more of a clustermess, just hire up a California attorney and get him in the middle of it. From personal experience they will only be interested in how much they can bill you...per minute, for research and representation. In the end you will be the loser in that scenario.
If you have the proper documentation to back up your claims, you should do fine all by yourself.
 
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