Ex-Richmond cops get lenient sentences (for buying guns for teens)

[alp227]

Source: SF Chronicle

Two former Richmond police officers who admitted they illegally bought guns for underage employees at an off-duty security company they operated - and then tried to obstruct a federal investigation to cover their tracks - won't have to serve time in prison, a federal judge decided Tuesday.

"It could have been worse," U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken said before announcing what she described as lenient sentences.

She sentenced Danny Harris, 32, of Pinole, to six months in a halfway house, and Raymond Thomas, 34, of Fairfield, to six months of home detention.

(...)

The saga began more than three years ago, when the two men oversaw the Richmond Police Department's Explorers Program. The program, which is an affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America, mentors members between the ages of 14 and 20 who are considering a career in law enforcement.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Richmond-cops-get-lenient-sentences-3805339.php

[onehandle]

1. 'It could have been worse'

Straw purchasers and gun dealers that sell to them should get automatic life sentences. That would empty gun shows pretty quick.

[LAGC]

4. How are the dealers supposed to know who the straw purchasers are?

Psychic powers?

[hack89]

7. There is no way for a gun dealer to identify a straw purchaser

a straw purchaser is by definition someone who is legally able to purchase a gun. How is a gun dealer going to know what will happen to the gun when the buyer walks out with it?

[Ash_F]

2. They even tried to frame one of the young men.

"Harris and Thomas ultimately hired Butler to frame Rios for a drunken driving arrest known as a "dirty DUI." The plot failed after an anonymous tipster contacted Rios through Facebook and warned him about the scheme."

Holy crap that is dirty. They should get years in prison just for that.

[AtheistCrusader]

3. Why?

Why in the hell? What does the world owe THEM, that they get let off easy for such a crime?

[TPaine7]

11. These are the brave heroes who protect us from harm. As officers of the law, they are

above you and me. We owe them a debt of eternal gratitude for keeping guns off of the streets.

They should have been sentenced to community service, if that.

And for the impaired...

[Javaman]

5. Dirty cops get slap on wrist

would have been a better headline

[Mr.Bill]

6. So much for the law...

in California that says there's a mandatory two year prison term for using a firearm in the commission of a crime. That's exactly what they did.

When cops go to jail they should be in the general population in the system. Then let nature take it's course.

[primavera]

8. Is that even a crime in Virginia?

With their nonexistent gun laws, I'm surprised there's anything gun-related one can do there that would be considered criminal.

[slackmaster]

9. The story concerns an incident in Richmond, California

And yes, buying a firearm for someone else as a straw purchase (as opposed to a gift) is illegal in Virginia. The defendants were found guilty in a federal court.

[primavera]

10. Oops, okay, that's embarrassing

Please pardon my two cents.