Cops Confiscate Lakewood Lady’s Arsenal; Motive Pending

[Feuer Frei!]

Francesca Rice no longer serves in her country’s armed forces, but she brought a piece of the action back home with her.
It seems the Lakewood vet had stockpiled her Edgewater Towers condo with a home arsenal including handguns, shotguns, a sniper rifle — plus a Thompson sub-machine gun, just in case the pizza guy got fresh.
Her cache somehow caught the attention of Lakewood Police, who paid a visit last September. When they found Rice wasn’t home, they asked an obliging employee of the complex to open up the apartment without her consent. Once inside, they raided the gun rack, making off with 13 firearms worth around $15,000. The only problem: They had no apparent reason to.
When Rice kindly asked to have her toys returned, the cops acknowledged that the weapons were legally owned. But they refused to return them without a court order. And so Rice has filed suit in Lakewood Municipal Court.


So far, nobody’s doing much talking. Lakewood Police Chief Timothy Malley declined to speak specifically about the seizure, citing the ongoing lawsuit. He also declined to speak generally about situations in which Lakewood cops would be likely to seize property on a whim. Rice’s attorney did not return Scene’s calls for comment, and Rice didn’t respond to repeated buzzes on her apartment intercom.

SOURCE (http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2011/08/30/cops-confiscate-lakewood-ladys-arsenal-motive-pending)

[CptSimFreak]

Not surprising...at all.

[em2nought]

One way to prevent SWAT bustin' down your door and filling you with sixty or so bullet holes while your weapon is on safety. :D

[Stealhead]

Interesting I am wondering if some cop knew the woman some how and knew that she had some nice guns and decided to obtain them.:hmmm:

Seems to be the case how could they have known she had the stuff?

I have a friend that lives in Glenn Bernie, Maryland one night he and his wife had some friends over and one of the couples got into a heated argument and the cops got called.Now funny thing is even though my friend nor his wife the home owners where involved in any way the cops as they where leaving(no one was arrested) they asked my buddy if he owned any fire arms he told them that he did a Glock 22 they did not ask about any weapons upon arriving at the home at all:hmmm: yet when he told then that he did indeed own the Glock they demanded to see the weapon and then said that they where taking it.My friend of course questioned the reasoning to no avail and they took his gun.He had to go through the entire court order process to get it back he found out that the supposed reason the gun was taken by the cops was because the owner had "physiological" problems and he had to see a court ordered shrink to get his gun back even though he never displayed any such behavior nor where the police even at his home for any reason even related to his actions.Strange if you ask me.

Makes me wonder how common this is.

[Osmium Steele]

As common as citing a youth for a loud car stereo once per shift, guaranteeing the officer 4 hours overtime per ticket for showing up at the courthouse, only to find the tickets weren't contested.

Gotta love Chicago.

[NeonSamurai]

The police officers involved should face major sanctions, if not criminal charges. Last I checked police do not have the right to enter private property with out a court order, ditto for seizing private property.

[Stealhead]

I think maybe it does have something to do with the numbers game.If you ask any honest LE officer on the local or state level he or she will tell you that like many other industries the big whig cops stat everything out.

For example my friend from Maryland his cousin is a Baltimore PD Detective Sargent I have heard this guy tell all many of stories related to numbers games at family gatherings I have been to down here in Florida.In Baltimore it is all about number of arrests not what level(misdemeanor,felony)the arrest was but obviously it is much easier to bust a guy say for public intoxication than for selling drugs.So the guy that arrested 20 people and 90% of them where minor things like public drunkenness or public urination has done better than the guy that arrested only 5 guys but 3 of them may have been major felonies in a one month period.I suspect that if a cop needs to make some good stats (if he plays the brown nose game) if he is low he will find something to get a boost.So maybe taking a gun from a "crazy" is a good stat if you are low.

[breadcatcher101]

Well if she had a "submachine gun" I bet it wasn't full auto. Those run at more than 15k. Probably it was a semi-auto version and not a submachine gun.

Kinda like all these semi-auto "assault weapons", sounds dramatic in the news even they are nothing more than a military looking deer rifle.

If it doesn't rock and roll it is not a machine gun or an assault weapon.

As for the cops stealing her firearms I hope they wind up paying her dearly for their actions.

[Armistead]

If she was legal busting into her home will get her a payday. You can buy Thompson's replicas my guess is that's what she had, if it were full auto she would be in trouble, so it's obvious it's semi.

Sure NRA will contact here and lawyer her up...

[Osmium Steele]

You can buy Thompson's replicas my guess is that's what she had, if it were full auto she would be in trouble, so it's obvious it's semi.

Not neccesarily. Most folks who have that extensive a collection manage to acquire a dealers license allowing the purchase of full-auto firearms.

[NeonSamurai]

I think maybe it does have something to do with the numbers game.If you ask any honest LE officer on the local or state level he or she will tell you that like many other industries the big whig cops stat everything out.

Oh I have no doubt, it may have also directly come from the higher ups. But do I feel that blame should travel upward (not downward).

Do not get me wrong, I have great respect for the boys and girls in blue, and have worked with them professionally in the past. But they must be held at least to the same standards as everyone else and I do not support the "blue wall". Police breaking the law should get hit with it to the fullest extent, especially as they are supposed to represent the law. Investing people with so much power always represents an issue too, so very easy to become corrupted by it.

[MH]

If it doesn't rock and roll it is not a machine gun or an assault weapon.

.

Wrong.
It is assault weapon.
Machine gun if not RnR is not machine gun.

[AVGWarhawk]

It is written as a right to bare arms. There was no stipulation for how many noted. She has a nice collection. What's the problem? :hmmm:

[MH]

Girls deserve some fun too.

http://www.gunslot.com/files/gunslot/images/50404.jpg

[Torplexed]

Girls deserve some fun too.



They have the right to "bare" arms and legs and midriffs...thank God :D

[Platapus]

http://www.gunslot.com/files/gunslot/images/50404.jpg

I like to see girls of that... caliber.

By "caliber," of course, I refer to both the size of their gun barrels and the high quality of their characters... Two meanings... caliber... it's a homonym... Forget it.
:oops:

[Stealhead]

Well if she had a "submachine gun" I bet it wasn't full auto. Those run at more than 15k. Probably it was a semi-auto version and not a submachine gun.

Kinda like all these semi-auto "assault weapons", sounds dramatic in the news even they are nothing more than a military looking deer rifle.

If it doesn't rock and roll it is not a machine gun or an assault weapon.

As for the cops stealing her firearms I hope they wind up paying her dearly for their actions.


Uh how do you figure that she cant own a true automatic weapon if she has the proper licensing then she could easily own one you do not have to filthy rich to get a class 3 it is a bit steep to me(cost of it and cost of full auto guns) but if one was really into guns and wanted what a class 3 allows you then that could easily be even a working class persons hobby she may have been collecting for years you dont know.

Just as there are working class people that have classic cars.Besides in the US military "assault rifles" are rarely fired fully auto in fact you are more deadly firing controlled semi auto so in that respect an AR-15 is very very close to an M-4.

If you own an FN FAL or any clone then you have in effect the exact same rifle that the Royal Army and Marines used for many years as their L1A1s where semi automatic only and that still makes it an assault weapon unless you want to argue that no member of the British,Australian,or New Zealand military never used this rifle very effectively in combat aginst enemies that had fully automatic rifles yet got defeated by a semi auto.

[RickC Sniper]

Even if one or more of her firearms were illegal they have no case against her. Evidence was illegally obtained and should legally not be admissable.

Those policemen committed a felony imo. They entered illegally and confiscated illegally......or stole, if you prefer that word.

[Krauter]

If a neighbour or the building owner were to complain about the amount of weapons present and that they felt threatened by that give the police enough cause to enter the apartment (not saying they have a right to confiscate the weapons at all) or would they still need a warrant? :hmmm:

[CaptainHaplo]

In the US, to enter a private residence without a warrant the PD must have reason to believe there is imminent danger to a person. Even if they had reason to believe this to be the case, the seizure of legally owned firearms from a private residence is theft - UNLESS - there is a signed order by a judge allowing for said removal. In cases such as domestic violence, suspected mental instabilty, etc - a person may be ordered to turn over any legally owned firearms until the matter is resolved. However, this exception does not apply in this case as the PD had no such instruction from a judge.

It is also interesting to note that this is not the first time that the City of Lakewood has been involved with refusing to return firearms to a resident who is legally entitled to them.....

http://caselaw.findlaw.com/oh-court-of-appeals/1409848.html

In the case above, an appellate court overruled a lakewood district court decision that kept firearms from their owner.

Interesting that the city of lakewood now has a repeated issue with this - and in this current case, a much more indefensible position than in 2000.

[Krauter]

Aah ok, well I knew for sure that the seizure was completely groundless, but I wasn't sure if the possibility of a neighbour complaining was enough ground for entry.

However, the fact that this girl wasn't even present during the seizure means that the PD cannot claim that they felt threatened by her because she wasn't even there!

[Tribesman]

In the case above, an appellate court overruled a lakewood district court decision that kept firearms from their owner.

That is a more tricky one, a thief with a firearms conviction and a report for domestic violence.....certainly ticks all the boxes.
Not surprising that the police took the guns or that he didn't object when they removed them.
It takes a decent team to work through those complications and resolve the legal issues.
Interesting dissenting view though, if you lose your property as you have no right to hold that property you lose your property full stop. Later establishing your right to own property does not entitle you to regain property you were not entitled to hold.

As for the original story, has anyone found what the actual reason was why the police where "somehow" interested in this woman and her apartment?

[Gargamel]

Lakewood, Ohio?

Gah.... shoulda known better.

I've seen so much illegal stuff by their police.

I was posted in a park one night, waiting for a call. We (partner and I) heard a crash on the highway behind us, so we swung the squad around to see if anybody needed help. We found an empty car up against the median wall. Few minutes later the cops (lakewood PD) showed up. I saw one of them rooting around inside the front seat of the car, as the door was left open. I didn't think much of it.

Few minutes later, and other cop brings the guy back who had taken off down the street to go find a phone. They let the guy out of the car to start questioning him.

Then the cop in the wrecked car pop's up and says "oh Look at what I found here!" and pulls out a sizable bag of weed from the car.

The guy yells out, "That's not my bag! Mines right here!" and pulls out a much smaller bag from his pocket.

:damn:

Police Fail on Mutiple levels....

[MH]

The lady should be arrested for keeping this whole arsenal of democracy in her living room unattended.
Think again....its legal in USA.:haha:

[Howard313]

http://images2.fanpop.com/image/photos/14200000/Nothing-personal-lord-cutler-beckett-14220474-535-270.jpg

Right to have arms.....SUSPENDED!

[Osmium Steele]

Found a picture of her.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_XCCzcMw9CYM/S-WWCZHfVwI/AAAAAAAAHB8/nC1jbTMFU28/s1600/g11-2.jpg

[Torplexed]

Found a picture of her.


Wow. Bonnie....where's Clyde? :o

[Platapus]

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_XCCzcMw9CYM/S-WWCZHfVwI/AAAAAAAAHB8/nC1jbTMFU28/s1600/g11-2.jpg


Nice pair of 45's :yep:

[Gargamel]

Wow. Bonnie....where's Clyde? :o

Right here