Webster Township man sold stolen guns for cash to buy heroin, federal court records say
A Webster Township man is facing a federal gun charge after ATF agents say he sold four stolen guns to two pawn shops in Washtenaw County because he needed cash to buy heroin.
Kevin O’Brien, 30, formerly of Bedford, Texas, was charged Tuesday in a federal criminal complaint with being a felon in possession of a firearm.
It’s unclear whether O’Brien is in custody. ATF Special Agent Donald Dawkins, a bureau spokesman in Detroit, could not be reached for comment today.
The investigation began after two rifles, a shotgun and revolver were stolen from a gun cabinet on Aug. 18 at a Webster Township home, according to an affidavit by ATF Special Agent Ted Crews. The home had been left unlocked, and the burglary was reported to the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Department.
Six days after the crime, Northfield Township police recovered the three long guns at Doc's Pawn Shop in Whitmore Lake, the affidavit says. Investigators found paperwork showing O'Brien sold the guns the day of the burglary for about $285 and listed his Texas driver's license number on a form, the affidavit says. According to the affidavit, one of the guns "appeared to have the serial number partially obliterated." Officers did not find the revolver.
The next day, DEA agents, Northfield Township police officers and sheriff’s deputies executed a search warrant at O’Brien’s home, recovering a notebook that contained a description of the stolen revolver and its serial number, the affidavit says. According to the affidavit, someone present during the raid told investigators it was O'Brien's notebook.
Five days after the search, O'Brien met with investigators at the Northfield Township Police Department and waived his Miranda rights, the affidavit says. He explained that he was a heroin addict, the affidavit says, and used the $285 from the first gun sale to buy heroin.
O'Brien told investigators that on the day of the burglary, a man picked him up from his house and told him they needed "to figure something out," the affidavit says. What that meant, O'Brien told investigators, is they had to "get some money to buy heroin." O'Brien said he knew the man wanted to break into a house to make it happen, the affidavit says.
According to the affidavit, O'Brien drove the man to Joy Road in Webster Township, where the man got out and walked into the woods.
O'Brien waited and drove around, the affidavit says. When the man emerged, he was carrying a blanket concealing four stolen guns, the affidavit says.
The men drove to a Whitmore Lake church and met a woman there, hiding the guns in some trees, the affidavit says. Then they went to Ann Arbor to sell some coins, the affidavit says.
According to the affidavit, O'Brien told investigators he sold the long guns to Doc's Pawn Shop, but took the revolver home and called several pawn shops to see how much money he could get for it. He wrote information about the gun in a notebook while calling the shops, the affidavit says.
O'Brien ultimately sold the revolver the day after the burglary to Dave's Diamonds & Gold in Ypsilanti Township, the affidavit says. The other man sold ammunition there, the affidavit says. Deputies seized the revolver.
O'Brien is prohibited from having a gun because he is a convicted felon with a criminal record in Missouri, Texas and Michigan, records show. He has felony convictions in Missouri in 1999 for second-degree assault, first-degree robbery and armed criminal action, the affidavit says.
Lee Higgins covers crime and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached by phone at (734) 623-2527 and e-mail at leehiggins@annarbor.com.
Comments
Ricebrnr
Fri, Oct 1, 2010 : 11:49 a.m.
Funny joke that speaks to your "logic": FEMALE INTERVIEWER: So, General Cosgrove, what things are you going to to teach these young boys when they visit your base? GENERAL COSGROVE: Were going to teach them climbing, canoeing, archery, and shooting. FEMALE INTERVIEWER: Shooting! Thats a bit irresponsible, isnt it? GENERAL COSGROVE: I dont see why, theyll be properly supervised on the rifle range. FEMALE INTERVIEWER: Dont you admit that this is a terribly dangerous activity to be teaching children? GENERAL COSGROVE: I dont see how. We will be teaching them proper rifle discipline before they even touch a firearm. FEMALE INTERVIEWER: But youre equipping them to become violent killers. GENERAL COSGROVE: Well, Maam, youre equipped to be a prostitute, but youre not one, are you?
Ricebrnr
Fri, Oct 1, 2010 : 11:39 a.m.
Anti-rape laws target rapists, not all men (and some women for that matter). Anti-theft laws target thieves, not their victims. "No matter how you get there, you eventually arrive at an illegal act. It starts with the LAC legally buying a gun and ends with illegally providing the gun to the felon." So if in the process of robbing your home I steal a kitchen knife/hatchet/ice pick/candle sstick/bat and later kill someone with said implement, YOU illegally provided me with a weapon right? You're not the victim of a crime but a co-conspirator? So if a kid steals your car out of your driveway for a joyride and ends up plowing into a schoolbus of children killing them all, YOU are responsible right? You'll turn yourself in ASAP? BTW there are many ways for guns to get into the hands of criminals which do not go through the hands of a "lac". Google "police gun stolen", gonna blame the police? Google "firearm dealer theft". clearly they are responsible too right? Regardless of the very stringent regulations for storage. Finally anyone buying a gun for someone who cannot is performing a "straw purchase". Thus a felon, thus NOT an "LAC". Your felon procuring a gun starts with an illegal act is correct but the blame as usual is misplaced upon crime victims and "LAC's". The illegal act is the FELON taking possesion of the firearm. TARGET the laws and your ire on them not "LAC's". But that would be too logical and sane.
Dave66
Fri, Oct 1, 2010 : 6:49 a.m.
Here's your logic, applied to other laws. Anti-rape laws don't stop rape, so anti-rape laws should be abolished. Anti-theft laws don't stop theft, so we should have no anti-theft laws. Etc. Get the picture? *yawn* I don't think a free-for-all anarchy shoot-em-up society is a very constructive one. And let's move back a step with "law abiding citizens" (LAC). Ask the obvious question, how did the felon get his gun? From a LAC! The felon couldn't purchase it at a gun store, since they do background checks, right? He couldn't get it at a gun show, since there is no gun show loophole (haha). So where did the gun come from? Did he make it himself in high school shop class? No, he got it from an irresponsible, "law abiding" citizen. Either that citizen was irresponsible in securing his weapon, and thus allowed it to be stolen, or he sold it, either to the felon himself or to a third party who then sold it to the felon. At some point, your so-called LAC provided a weapon to a felon. No matter how you get there, you eventually arrive at an illegal act. It starts with the LAC legally buying a gun and ends with illegally providing the gun to the felon. Doesn't sound so law abiding to me. It sounds criminal and irresponsible. So no, you can NOT count on my support to repeal sanity.
Ricebrnr
Wed, Sep 29, 2010 : 9:34 a.m.
@Dave66 Clearly my comment was not off topic or our illustrious mods would have summarily removed it. Thank you for agreeing that firearms laws do not "dissuade" those who are not inclined to follow them (i.e. criminals) and therefore affect only law abiding citizens who are. The logical conclusion then is we should stop attempting to infringe and take away rights from we law abiding citizens. This means we can count on your support to repeal firearm laws, right?
Dave66
Sun, Sep 26, 2010 : 4:59 p.m.
Ricebrnr wrote, "Anyone know how many gun crimes that were perpertrated by this criminal were or could have been prevented by our current gun laws?" Laws don't prevent crimes. Laws create disincentives for committing acts that society finds objectionable. By creating penalties for objectionable behavior, a law seeks to dissuade people from doing it. So the answer to your off-topic question is zero. Zero criminal acts are prevented by laws. It's always zero. In fact, it is reasonable to conclude that laws create crimes, not prevent them. After all, without law, nothing would be illegal, and thus crime would not exist.
Dave66
Sat, Sep 25, 2010 : 5:18 p.m.
@Ann: Who's to say that space aliens didn't get him hooked on heroin on purpose, and the's the unwitting star of a galactic reality show? OR -- Here's a thought -- Maybe speculations that Mexicans are to blame for what an addict in Michigan does are not relevant or useful, and actually is kind of racist and bizarre.
Ann English
Fri, Sep 24, 2010 : 7:17 p.m.
David, The drug cartels may have introduced him to cocaine, and he chose to go on to heroin. Cocaine does come from Latin America.
Ricebrnr
Thu, Sep 23, 2010 : 4:57 p.m.
Ok ok need a hint huh? It's not one of the two binary numbers. O c'mon were's that lauded Ann Arbor brilliance? Buehler...Buehler?
Ricebrnr
Thu, Sep 23, 2010 : 9:07 a.m.
My, my, my... Anyone know how many gun crimes that were perpertrated by this criminal were or could have been prevented by our current gun laws? Hint: Its on of the numbers in the BInary number system.
David Briegel
Thu, Sep 23, 2010 : 8:26 a.m.
Gee Ann, I thought the US Military was in charge of Afghanistan. How do those poppy's get from there to the good ol' USA with us in charge? Nah, nobody cares.
Dark Dichotomy
Thu, Sep 23, 2010 : 2:42 a.m.
Yes Ann, it's not the heroin addict's fault for his crimes. The bad mexicans made him do it. Seriously?
Dave66
Wed, Sep 22, 2010 : 11:26 p.m.
I tried *real* hard to figure out a way Ann English's comment makes any kind of sense whatsoever. I failed. Since it seems to be important to the previous poster to note the length of the Mexican border, I thought I'd share the statistics. Texas 1241 miles (64.19%) Arizona 372.5 miles (19.27%) New Mexico 179.5 miles ( 9.28%) California 140.4 miles ( 7.26%) =============================== Total 1933.4 miles So yes, New Mexico does have a shorter border than Texas and Arizona, but not as short as California. Who's to say that the Mexican cartels aren't interested in geography? I don't know. Maybe someone is. But who? Oh, and who's to say that they aren't selling drugs in proportion to the state's population and not the state's border length? Who's to say that? Who's to say the other thing? Who? It's a mystery! As I indicated previously, I totally failed to find a point to the post. Maybe others can do better.
Ann English
Wed, Sep 22, 2010 : 7:14 p.m.
So this guy is from Texas. Who's to say that Mexican drug cartels aren't introducing illegal drugs to Texans just as they are to Californians and Arizonans? (New Mexico has a very short border with Mexico, unlike its neighboring states.)
tdw
Wed, Sep 22, 2010 : 7:07 p.m.
How or why is Hutaree related to this story?
greight
Wed, Sep 22, 2010 : 6 p.m.
This guy REALLY needs to be sentenced to rehab!