A buddy & his stolen pistol...

[gew98]

A good friend of mine chose to live in west virigina 7 years ago or so. He was doing well as full time ARNG working on reset programs until that work ended. Anyhow he eventually moved in with a family he more or less felt adopted him. Anyhow the father in the family is more or less brain dead and ignores the children excepting for his oldest boy whom is a professional pill/crack/meth head thief.
So first a .410 commanche singleshot pistol disappears , then an Ipod disappears , then a locked cashbox , then a 45auto pistol disappears .And about a week and a half ago my buddies Medication from the VA went AWOL and his 45 pistol takes a walk from under his pillow with the black leather military shoulder rig and magazine pouch etc etc. The pillhead is arrested in short order and it turns out that after his momma bailed him out yet again on a $5k property bond that the pistol by serial is listed as some one of the items 'found' by the arresting Elenore c officer. Now the father did not want to pursue the first two missing pistols as "his boy" would'nt have done that , oh no.
Well the kid fessed up he did take the 45 pistol and he is facing 2 counts of concealed possesion amongst some stolen property & plates , driving revoked no insurance etc etc.
So my buddy goes to the arresting officer and is told produce a receipt for the pistol or he won't get it back. Well all his 'papers' disappeared with the cash box and all he has is his personal bound ledger which they won't accept. The 3 gunshops in Kentucky where he bought it from ( he's not sure exactly which one ) have all gone out of business since he got that pistol . The ATF will not indulge him with a 'trace' and the arresting officer refused to do same. He did talk with the PD chief whom said he would request the arresting officer do a trace.
Part of the problem I feel is he's in a bad situation with these caring folks and being the kid is a known addict & thief using the same address coupled with him not being blood I don't think he will get his pistol back.
I gave him all the advice I could think of on this ...as well as telling him for over a year now he needed to get out of that place before he gets robbed blind and or the little girl gets coerced into charging molestation .
Anyhow any suggestions I may forward to him to help get his pistol back would be greatly appreciated.
I felt had he reported it stolen the night he found it AWOL he would have gotten it back more easily. He acts like if he claims it stolen now he'll have to leave the house pronto...whcih I fail to see as worth considering since the kid did steal the pistol.

[bowfin]

Let's put first things first:

Your friend needs to get far away...no, make that VERY FAR AWAY from that whole outfit, and then worry about the pistol. There's dozens of companies just waiting to make a deserving young man a new 1911 .45 ACP, but a person is issued just a single life, so it's best not to mess it up by getting entangled in a unhealthy and unnecessarily bad situation.

What good will it do for him to get his pistol returned and take back to the same place it got stolen in the first place? That's probably what the cops are thinking, why give it back to this guy so it can be stolen again and used in a botched 7-11 robbery that kills three people?

I sure as he!! wouldn't be worried about the pistol as much as the people with which he is living.

[shooterg]

Paying rent is cheaper than losing the guns.

[9.3X62AL]

I'm with Bowfin on this one. Write off the losses on this year's taxes, and get thee hence from that nest of jackals.

[starmac]

I would say that if he hadn't turned it in as stolen he is sol.
X# on getting out of there, something fishy, why is he staying in the first place.

[gew98]

Myself and his only other friend have told him repeatedly he is not living in a healthy environment. When he was making good money working for the reset programs he acted like he was the father figure by buying gorceries and whatnot. Gravy train is over and now he's being stolen from. He has no small issues at 50 years old...alot of it a self induced PTSD syndrome as he never got shot at or had to pull the trigger on his one full and 2nd partial tour in Iraq. The VA is more than happy enough to give him pills and those he lives with are more than happy to steal them when they come in the mail.
He's a good guy but it's his desire to have a "normal" family life that has again put him in with , well to be truthful white trash. I could go on about how they have robbed scrapable parts off his broke down mini-van and how many times he's had gas evaporate from his gas tank etc etc. He's in a poor rural area where they support thievung blood over common sense more often than not. I've encountered the same thing in Kentucky backwoods areas and his part of WV ( mason county ) is little different.
He had alot of anger towards "us" questioning the way he lives with this family and now he's starting to wake up as it's come back to bite his **** but good.
I have as well used the exact phrase "cut your losses and run back here". He acted like the moment he left anything he could not pack off would disappear...more the reasdon I told him to GTFO if he even had an inkling the banjos would play like that there.
I personally don't see how he would ever get his pistol back with the police in full knowledge of whom and where he lives. He's tried to tell me several times after each theft how he put the fear of god in the pillhead(s)_...but yet there he is still getting taken like a chump.

[Recluse]

A vet with self-imposed PTSD living with white trash that includes a known thief, burglar, meth-head/dealer. . . and he thinks he's going to get his stolen pistol that he has no receipt for (and never reported stolen) back from the police?

This guy is what we called a professional victim.

He can stick around with these inbreds and continue slowly becoming one of them, or he can leave.

His choice.

Don't get drug into the quicksand with him.

:coffee:

[45nut]

I see it the same way as a woman that stays with the guy that beats her, it is no easier to admit the place is toxic for him. Regardless, the same policies apply. He needs to cut his losses and leave before he ends up beaten or dead because there is an ever escalating road to ruin he is traveling on now.
Things mean nothing to a dead man.

[Clinebo]

I'm with Recluse on this one. It sounds like he should have invested in a good Gun SAFE!!! If he wants to stay in that kind of house, I'd steer clear of him as much as possible. Things are only going to continue to go downhill from here on out.
Looks like "the fear of God" didn't last very long.

[MtGun44]

Lay down with dogs, expect to get fleas.

I agree - he needs to get away before he wakes up missing his heartbeat. Sad to say,
but folks on crack and meth almost never "get better". There are plenty of nice folks in
the world to hang around with, he needs a change of scenery.

Bill

[firefly1957]

I have some friends that have a son who is a crack head he is a danger when he needs that stuff he gets out of prison and he is at the stuff as soon as he gets his hands on $3000 or a stolen car and less cash. As hard as it might be you are safer elsewhere and you should not have a gun around that crackhead, either you will use it on him or he will use it on you and others. Either way you lose.

[Dennis Eugene]

You say he's 50 years old? Yet he ain't smart enough to figger this out? Forget him don't waste any more time on him. He's full grown and sounds like he's dumb as a stump. Sorry if this ain't what you wanted to hear but I'm betting it's pretty damn close to an absolute. For crying out loud if he can't figger it out at Fifty he ain't going to figger it out at all. Dennis

[starmac]

You say he's 50 years old? Yet he ain't smart enough to figger this out? Forget him don't waste any more time on him. He's full grown and sounds like he's dumb as a stump. Sorry if this ain't what you wanted to hear but I'm betting it's pretty damn close to an absolute. For crying out loud if he can't figger it out at Fifty he ain't going to figger it out at all. Dennis

X2, there is something about the situation that HE LIKES everybody has a choice and he has made his.

[Finster101]

You say he's 50 years old? Yet he ain't smart enough to figger this out? Forget him don't waste any more time on him. He's full grown and sounds like he's dumb as a stump. Sorry if this ain't what you wanted to hear but I'm betting it's pretty damn close to an absolute. For crying out loud if he can't figger it out at Fifty he ain't going to figger it out at all. Dennis

That pretty much says it right there.

[fatnhappy]

You say he's 50 years old? Yet he ain't smart enough to figger this out? Forget him don't waste any more time on him. He's full grown and sounds like he's dumb as a stump. Sorry if this ain't what you wanted to hear but I'm betting it's pretty damn close to an absolute. For crying out loud if he can't figger it out at Fifty he ain't going to figger it out at all. Dennis

pretty much covers it.

[Bret4207]

I think Recluse nailed it, he put himself in this position well beyond just living with the family in question. No idea where he got the guns, no reports of them going missing (inexcusable in my opinon), etc. But, he is your friend so the way he gets his guns back is by going through the Chief and if that doesn't work he'll need a lawyer to go after the PD for not exercising due effort. They are his property after all, even if he is kind of a dummy for putting himself in this position.

Beyond that, take it from a guy who's picked the underdog loser to "help" 9 times out of 10- some people just aren't worth the trouble. He needs to grow up and take responsibility for his own mess. Giving him a hand is one thing, holding his hand is another.

Best of luck to you.

[Freightman]

This isn't the religious forum and you can take this down if you want but the apostle Paul said "to flee the very appearance of evil" in another place he said " bad companions will corrupt good morals" You do not have to be religious to see this is good advise. If "family " is more important than freedom, which he will more than lickley give up due to the association then there is not much you or anyone else can do. We all have freedom of choice and no one can make the right or wrong choice, that is up to each one.

[1Shirt]

Who ever wrote that "if ya lay down with dogs, ya get fleas", pretty well summed it up. Tough love won't work in this case. Distance might without a forwarding address.
1Shirt!

[P.K.]

Who ever wrote that "if ya lay down with dogs, ya get fleas", pretty well summed it up. Tough love won't work in this case. Distance might without a forwarding address.
1Shirt!

Agreed. Something else the OP stated goes a little further as to the frame of mind of the vet. Something about "family" and I'm guessing he has none of his own and guilt over that added to the PTSD( real or imagined) makes for a huge issue with correct decision making skills. You will never be able to help him untill he walks out the door. :coffeecom