From 2012.
It is illegal for a private citizen to knowingly sell a gun to a Mexican criminal.
It is OK if the Justice Department sells 2,000 guns to Mexican drug gangs.
If a private citizen sells 30 guns, it’s jail without bond, indefinitely. If the government sells 2,000+, it’s OK. It’s covered by executive privilege.
Do we live behind the looking glass, or what?
Attorney General Eric Holder has denied knowledge of “Fast and Furious,” which sounds like a good name for a heavy metal rock band.
In contrast, New Mexico gun dealer Rick Reese and his two sons Ryin and Remington are in jail. Why? Because they are accused of a similar crime involving 30 guns.
The Reese family ran a gun shop in Deming, N.M. The father, mother, and sons were arrested in August 2011 for knowingly selling guns to Mexican smugglers.
The wife, Terri Reese, was allowed to go free after six months. The others are still in jail. There is no bail.
The crime: he had guns in his home. Ammo, too. He is a licensed gun dealer.
The guns were seized by the government.
I can understand this. The government had to replenish the gun supply, which had been drained by “Fast and Furious.”
Also, the Reeses were mixed up with the local Tea Party. That was suspicious.
The Reeses may get their day in court in July. There has been a preliminary hearing.
During this first hearing, we learned several things about the prosecution’s case. For instance, we learned that prosecutors acknowledge that every gun the Reeses sold was properly logged into and out of their store inventory, and that FBI background checks were conducted, and approvals received, for each purchaser. They also agree that all taxes were paid and no money was exchanged “under the table,” nor did any of the family members receive compensation above their normal company paycheck.We learned that Rick Reese also employed retired and off-duty law enforcement officers as part-time help in the shop, and that a substantial portion of the company’s business came from law enforcement officers and agencies.
The prosecution charges a criminal conspiracy. They were a family. They conspired.
Probably the most important fact we learned at this hearing was that the entire investigation was instigated based on a tip that a woman named Penny Torres was making suspicious purchases of guns and ammunition, and might be illegally buying for someone else. That tip led to Torres’ arrest and her subsequent grand jury testimony against the Reese family and another gun shop where she had made some purchases. The presumption is that her cooperation garnered her leniency in the charges and sentence she was facing for her criminal activity.What is most significant about the arrest of Penny Torres is that the original tip identifying her as a potential “straw buyer” came from Terri Reese.
That’s right: the wife.
My prediction: Attorney General Eric Holder will spend no time behind bars. Neither will the people who designed and implemented “Fast and Furious.”
Continue reading here.
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Published on June 22, 2012. The original is here.
In February 2014, a jury declared the family innocent of gun running. The parents were convicted of making false statements. The story is here.
In March, their appeal for a new trial was turned down. A news outlet reported: "Absent further appeal, the case returns to the district court for sentencing. Rick, Terri and Ryin Reese each face a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Their sentencing hearings have yet to be scheduled."
A year later, the Reeses settled. Their inventory was sold by the government, with proceeds going to them.
Attempting to bring an end to an ordeal that began in 2011, former gun dealers Rick and Terri Reese filed a settlement agreement with the U.S. government Friday in the District Court of the United States for the District of New Mexico. In addition to over $11,000 and property, the government, if it adheres to arbitration negotiations between attorneys, will be keeping “approximately 1,191 firearms” and “approximately 4,761 ammunition magazines.”The family will get to keep real property including 85 acres with structures in Deming, gold and silver coins, four vehicles and 17 gun safes. A specific condition that “items being released to Claimants shall be in substantially the same condition they were in when they were seized” is the result of previously seized vehicles being returned with damage and missing parts, Rick Reese tells Examiner. Additionally, seized ammunition and powder “not specifically forfeited” will be sold to the public by a designated Federal Firearms Licensee with proceeds less dealer costs going to the Reeses.
Arrested for allegedly knowingly selling guns to cartel members while operating a New Mexico gun store, all Reese family members were found not guilty on the most serious charges of conspiracy. Additionally and significantly, money laundering charges against them were dismissed. Husband Rick, wife Terri and son Ryin were each convicted on lesser charges of making false statements on forms, basically under the presumption that they should have known federal agents were lying. Son Remington was cleared of all charges.
That conviction became subject to challenge as irregularities in the government’s case emerged, including over the credibility of testimony against the Reeses. Initially granted a new trial by the District Court based on the prosecution withholding evidence from the defense about a criminal investigation of one of the prosecution’s law enforcement witnesses, the U.S. Appeals Court overturned that decision.
In spite of the prosecutor asking for five years, Judge Robert C. Brack ruled last November that the family, with no prior criminal record, did not pose a threat and that probation was appropriate. They were sentenced to time served, probation and fines, along with random searches and drug testing, an alcohol prohibition, and prohibition from possessing firearms.
In addition to the division of property reached in the settlement, the Reeses also agreed to give up claims against the government.
As for Eric Holder, Wikipedia reports:
In August 2012, the National Urban League named Holder as a recipient of their "Living Legend" award, along with singer Stevie Wonder.Holder delivered the commencement address at Harvard Law School in May 2012 and at the UC Berkeley School of Law in May 2013.
Holder received an honorary Doctor of Laws from his alma mater, Columbia University, in May 2017.
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