Saugus cop quits, taped stealing gun
SAUGUS - One town police officer has resigned and another is on paid administrative leave in the wake of two internal investigations that have shaken the police department, The Item has learned.I've got friends who are members at MRA. I've shot there probably dozens of times. There are video cameras everywhere; you sign in and out; your card gets you into the building and into the range area. Quite frankly, this guy was entirely too stupid to be a cop - or too arrogant:
Jason LaBella, 25, of Saugus, sent a letter of resignation to Police Chief Domenic DiMella on Thursday, DiMella confirmed. LaBella, who has been a patrolman for fewer than two years, is facing a criminal larceny charge in Woburn after he was allegedly caught on video tape stealing a handgun from a member of the Mass. Rifle Association, a Woburn-based gun club.
LaBella was contacted by Woburn detectives Jan. 29 and he agreed to meet them at the Woburn police station. However, once inside, he allegedly refused to be interviewed and told the investigators, "I'm a Saugus cop."Seriously? You thought that being a town cop several towns over would get you out of a felony larceny conviction? If the person whose gun you stole had a C&R license, they would have had to report the theft to the BATFE; as it is, they have to report the loss to the Criminal History Systems Board regardless. Even if LaBella hadn't be caught on video, if he had ever been caught with the gun in his possession it would be readily traceable. (Side note: You *do* have all of your firearms cataloged in a couple different safe spots, right? RIGHT?).
It's hard to decide which is worse: If LaBella is so stupid as to think he can steal a firearm in the state of MA from a secure facility with videotaped premises (and they tell you that the premises are recorded) and get away with it, or so arrogant that he thought being a police officer would protect him. In either case, those aren't qualities we want in a civil servant, let alone one tasked with defending the law. It's good to see that LaBella was forced to resign; it's significantly less heartening to see that he was not arrested. Had that been you or I, we'd have been taken out of our house at SWAT-point.
Two sets of rules, one for the ruling elites and one for the proles, is a recipe for disaster no matter how benevolently they think it's applied.
That is all.
7 comments:
Hey, as lame as "I'm a Saugus cop" sounds, it saved his arse.
No arrest and only a larceny charge? No charge for not reporting the transfer ? No mention of the officer losing his other guns? No charge for safe storage violations ? Is it even legal to leave a gun in a car in MA ? It certainly was not when I was stuck in PRM!
This knucklehead now lost his LTC, so rest assured that the statistic will be used against us. Another LTC revoked due to the owner committing a "gun crime".
(was a member at MRA too)
THE ONLY ONES professional enough to steal a gun ON CAMERA and present "I'm a cop" as his defense. Or is it more like purchasing indulgences?
Good points. I wonder about the points Wally makes?
I don't see a dual standard here. He's being charged with a felony, he lost his job (resignation in lieu of termination isn't going to help him), he'll probably do some jail time, and of course he'll be unbondable, and a prohibited person.
Except for maybe being in arrested (and that might yet happen when the Grand Jury indicts him, I'm not seeing better treatment for him.
Better treatment would have been if the Woburn PD told him to return the gun then they went to the owner and asked him not to press charges. Which might have allowed him to keep his job. THAT would be totally different than what would happen to you and me.
Firearms can be left in vehicles, but must be double locked (the globe box doesn't count). As to the rest, while it's a larceny, it's a felony charge. Since the investigation isn't complete, more charges certainly could come.
TOTWTYTR,
If you were I were found to have stolen a firearm, something tells me we wouldn't get a call to come down to the station - we'd have cops kicking in our doors.
It sounds like the gun was found loaded - a *big* no-no in MA as you know - inside the car, but there's no charges (but that could always be shoddy reporting).
Let's also not lose sight that this was a quiet report in the Saugus Item. Had it been you or I, the headlines in the Globe would have read "ZOMG GUN NUTS COMMITTING FELONIES!!!"
Instead, it gets swept under the rug, nothing to see here...
After spending maybe a month in jail he'll be on his way to his new career as a TSA screening agent...
At least one of them got caught. How many of them get away with stealing them under the color of law that never get reported or caught
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