Steve, please call me at your earliest convenience. I have some breaking information regarding an Army combat veteran (and Christian) in Ohio who was just raided this evening for the same reasons Brandon Raub was arrested. There were no criminal charges, no suspicions of criminal activity charge, and he was notarrested but all of his firearms were confiscated and he has been given a notice to appear before a judge. He is a Purple Heart recipient, no criminal background, no issues with prior VA psych evals. I just got off the phone with him and would like to pass along all of the information (and there is quite a bit) so others can be made aware of what is happening.
At 18:40 EST on 22/Aug/2012, I received a call from a very close friend of mine in west central Ohio, claiming he had just had all firearms confiscated. At first I thought he was joking, as we often do, so I made some sarcastic remarks, but he continued explaining what he had gone through. I stopped him and asked if he was being serious or just pulling my leg. He assured me he was being serious. I’ll provide you with the details as best I can- he conveyed all of this information to me during our second phone conversation after I had returned home at approximately 20:30 EST.
A search warrant was executed by Miami County Ohio Sheriff’s deputies at approximately 1730 EST at the home of my friend, at the exact time he was returning home from work. The minute he got in the back door from the garage, there was a knock at the front door, and a cruiser pulled up directly behind his truck (which he could see from inside the house.) There were seven Sheriff’s deputies in total, and the warrant they produced gave them the ability to find, secure, and obtain any deadly weapons. The reason stated on the warrant was for the “safety of the defendant (my friend,) and the general public.” The order was signed by a local judge around noon on 21/Aug/2012.
My friend was able to read off parts of the warrant to me, and I transcribed them as best I could:
“…Defendant shall not possess, use, carry, or obtain any deadly weapon and shall turn over all deadly weapons in defendant’s possession to the law enforcement agency that serves this order. Any law enforcement agency is authorized to take possession of deadly weapons pursuant to this paragraph and hold them in protective custody until further court order…”
NCIC[06]
“…if defendant is in possession of deadly weapons, defendant is guilty of violating Ohio revised code 2923.13(5). Whoever violates this section is guilty of having weapons while under disability, a felony of the third degree…”
Here’s the revised code the warrant referred to:
“2923.13 Having weapons while under disability.
(5) The person is under adjudication of mental incompetence, has been adjudicated as a mental defective, has been committed to a mental institution, has been found by a court to be a mentally ill person subject to hospitalization by court order, or is an involuntary patient other than one who is a patient only for purposes of observation. As used in this division, “mentally ill person subject to hospitalization by court order” and “patient” have the same meanings as in section 5122.01 of the Revised Code.”
The deputies confiscated one .45 caliber pistol, one .380 caliber pistol, a 12 gauge shotgun, two AR-15 rifles, and a stripped AR-15 lower receiver. My friend was able to see what the deputy/detective wrote on the evidence list regarding the firearm descriptions. The shotgun was listed as a “hunting shotgun,” the pistols were listed by their caliber, and the two ARs were listed as “tactical assault rifles.” What was even more strange is the detective then listed all the accessories on the ARs, including red dot sights, laser sights, foregrips, 30 round magazines, etc. It should also be stated one of those ARs was his fiancée’s, and the deputies claimed it was shared ownership and therefore had to be confiscated. A hunting knife was also confiscated. No magazines or ammunition were confiscated.
In addition to the confiscations, the deputies attempted to question my friend and his fiancée. I didn’t get specific details on the questions asked. They refused to answer any questions without an attorney present. When my friend stated, “This is bullshit,” one of the deputy detectives remarked, “Look man, I’m just doing my job.”
The icing on the police-state-cake was a notice to appear before a judge for “an evaluation of mental competency.” The judge will decide if he has to see a state psych. Keep in mind, too, if during the time between now and the judge’s decision, another search warrant could be executed. If they find any “deadly weapons” in his house, he’ll be charged with a FELONY and arrested. Ohio revised code is extremely vague on the definition of a “deadly weapon,” maybe intentionally so. Like Brandon Raub, there were no criminal charges, no suspicions of criminal activity. Unlike Brandon Raub’s case, however, the state of Ohio won’t allow law enforcement to involuntarily commit a person unless there is an immediate need to do so, such as holding a gun to their head or another person’s head. Ohio law requires a judge to make the decision on having a person evaluated for mental illness. Of course, you’re then evaluated by a state-appointed psych, and that isn’t exactly going to play out in your favor. Had my friend lived in Virginia, he may be sitting in a metal hospital (prison) right now. Or worse.
Steve- this man is an Army combat veteran, a Purple Heart recipient, a Christian working for a Christian company, his father is a pastor and a police officer, he has no criminal record aside from a speeding ticket many years ago, and no psychiatric problems, no PTSD, etc. He’s not on any medication. He and his fiancée have three children, and their wedding is in 30 days. Heck, he even quit smoking earlier this year until this assault on his freedom happened. He is an upstanding person with strong values and a good heart. This should not be happening, and yet it is. We know why he was raided, but we don’t know why he was raided, if you know what I mean. There is no indication of anybody filing a complaint against him, and no indication of who asked for the judge’s signature or why.
My friend does have a lawyer (after shelling out $2500…Thank God he and his fiancée have good jobs and live responsibly so they could have money saved up for an emergency. Of course, that money was earmarked for prep items like food, clothing for their kids, etc.) The lawyer will be filing motions tomorrow. I told him to keep on his lawyer and to be extremely aggressive with discovery- find out how far up these orders came from, because I can assure this wasn’t a local operation. He has only lived in the county for five weeks!
When I hung up with my friend at around 21:30, I told him to be safe and that we’d be praying for him.
From Liberty.com
From Liberty.com