Alaska L-39 NTSB Preliminary Released...

[FN FAL]

Evidently, Kane worked for the FBI at one time...

Hearing casts light on Security Aviation man

ROB KANE: Testimony points to man accused of rocket-launcher possession as recent FBI informant.
By RICHARD MAUER and LISA DEMER
Anchorage Daily News
Published: March 2, 2006
Last Modified: March 2, 2006 at 01:32 PM



Rob Kane, the Eagle River man accused of illegally possessing two Soviet bloc rocket launchers, worked as an informant for the FBI as recently as last year, according to testimony at a new bail hearing Wednesday.


Kane, 37, is asking federal Magistrate John Roberts to reconsider his Feb. 8 decision denying Kane bail as a flight risk. Kane's attorneys said Kane was willing to post a $100,000 bond and offered Charles Sandberg, the real estate broker who employs Kane's mother at Next Home Real Estate, as a round-the-clock custodian.

Time ran out on the hearing Wednesday afternoon and Roberts ordered it continued this morning. He said his decision would be a "close call."

...

Contrary to assertions by defense witness Joe Griffith, a former wing commander at Elmendorf Air Force Base and a prominent Anchorage businessman, that the rocket launchers were "demilitarized," the government presented evidence that they were fully operational. There was no evidence that Kane or Security had obtained rockets, though agents found operation manuals and rocket specifications at Security Aviation for the air-to-ground weapons.

Griffith, the former chief executive of Chugach Electric Association, has been a training and business development consultant to Security Aviation since last fall, shortly after Avery bought the company. In testimony on behalf of Kane, Griffith said he was present when the crates containing the rocket launchers arrived at the Security hanger at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.

The 16-tube rocket launchers, with Russian lettering, were designed to be fitted to the L-39 Czech military trainer jets Avery had purchased. Federal agents seized Avery's eight jets in the aftermath of the Feb. 2 raids on Security hangers in Anchorage and Palmer and Avery's company headquarters in a former bank building on C Street.

Griffith said the rocket launchers were not operational and might as well have been turned into coffee tables. But under withering cross-examination by assistant U.S. attorney Steve Skrocki, Griffith acknowledged he was basing his assertion on an advertisement from the man who sold the launchers as well as his own "cursory" examination that didn't even include a close visual inspection. Griffith said many of his assumptions were based on the way similar American launchers were designed, not Soviet-era ones.

A federal agent who participated in the search of Kane's house testified that he was told by an expert from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that the launchers' wiring was intact, though some terminals were misnumbered in a common mistake of Soviet equipment. Skrocki suggested that the rocket-control wiring in the jets themselves was also intact, even if the actual cockpit controls were missing.

 

[wt219200]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

go fly planes
how do you guys have this much time to argue about this

 

[HangerRat]

Evidently, Kane worked for the FBI at one time...

Hmm, now maybe you are getting more of the picture. Its not as simple as you were making it sound.

 

[FN FAL]

Hmm, now maybe you are getting more of the picture. Its not as simple as you were making it sound.

It is simple; the making and the transfer of possession of Title II firearms requires a tax, unless you can justify not paying the tax. Failure to pay the tax can subject the offender to 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000.00 fine.

It would have been much simpler if Kane would have simply called the ATF Technical branch and had them simply look at the items before purchasing them and possessing them.

All these other nebulous things are either crimes on their own or they are not. You could be the Pope, a state trooper, the Mayor, or Bob Hope...if you don't pay the NFA tax and you are in possession of an NFA firearm, your boobies gets put in a wringer. And, if you committed any other crime, that is a separate issue all together.

 

[FN FAL]

Here's another recent case, same crime. There's no mention of his doll collection, speeding tickets or municipal violations...the obliterated serial number on the one firearm is a separate issue.

Conflicting accounts in firefighter's gun case
FBI agent's notes, typed report differ

By Kevin Vaughan, Rocky Mountain News
March 16, 2006

An FBI agent's handwritten notes, taken during an hourlong interview with a Denver firefighter facing machine gun charges, vary from his typewritten report detailing the same conversation, according to testimony in federal court Wednesday.

The notes also do not contain several direct quotations attributed to firefighter Stan Ford in the official report, which is dated a week after the interrogation. At the same time, some issues raised in the notes were not included in the official report.

In one instance, the notes quote Ford as saying he liked to "buy and sell guns legally" - but the word "legally" was dropped from the quote when it appeared in the official report.

Ford's attorney, Will Hood, took issue with the discrepancies during a hearing before U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn. Hood is seeking to have the statements attributed to the firefighter thrown out on the grounds that they weren't voluntary.

Blackburn did not immediately rule on the motion, indicating that he could make a decision today.

Ford, 35, who is accused of selling illegal machine guns to an undercover operative on three occasions, was arrested Nov. 22 as he left his southwest Denver home.

He also is charged with possession of a gun with an obliterated serial number - one of more than 70 weapons found in his home when it was searched after his arrest.

His case made headlines, in large part because of an unattributed statement in the arrest affidavit that Ford had been "described as a Denver firefighter who holds anti-U.S. sympathies and has ties to an unknown domestic terrorist organization."

Ford, through his attorney, has denied that allegation.

At issue in Wednesday's hearing were three pages of handwritten notes by FBI Special Agent W. Brian Schmitt, drafted during his interview of Ford early in the morning of Nov. 22, and his typed "302" report, which is slightly more than three pages long and dated Nov. 29.

Schmitt, under questioning from Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Mackey, testified that in the hours after his arrest, Ford did not appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, was not pressured or coerced in any way and voluntarily agreed to speak with investigators.

Ford signed a waiver acknowledging that he understood his rights before he was questioned in an interview room at the FBI office downtown.

"There was no pressure exerted," Schmitt testified. "I gave him every chance to ask for counsel or opt out of talking. He chose to talk."

Schmitt said several times that the discussion was "laid-back" and that Ford was cooperative throughout the exchange.

Before Hood questioned Schmitt, Blackburn gave him access to the agent's notes of the interview and to the transcript of his grand jury testimony.
After a recess called to retrieve the grand jury documents, Hood asked a number of questions.

He established, for example, that Schmitt did not record the interview with Ford. When Schmitt said it was FBI policy not to record interviews with suspects, Hood asked him why.

"I'm not in the position to say," Schmitt responded.

Asked by Hood what that meant, Schmitt answered: "I don't make the rules. I just go by them."

Then Hood turned to a comparison of the notes and the 302 report.
Hood pointed to a quotation at the bottom of page 2 of the 302 that was attributed to Ford: "I knew it was wrong, but I sold the guns anyway."

When he asked Schmitt to find a reference to that statement in his notes, the agent acknowledged "it's not in the notes."

Ford is accused of selling three different kinds of machine guns. Hood highlighted a statement in Schmitt's notes that refers to one of the guns: "has only shot AR-15 Olympic Arms."

In the 302, however, Schmitt wrote, in reference to the AR-15, "Ford also stated that he had shot that exact weapon on many occasions, fully automatic."

The notes do not contain a reference to the number of times Ford shot the gun and don't detail whether it was semiautomatic or fully automatic. That distinction is important under the law because semiautomatic is legal but fully automatic is not.

Hood also pointed to a statement in Schmidt's notes that "people know Stan Ford is a straight shooter and he turns away people who want to buy off-paper."

Schmitt agreed with Hood's assertion that "off-paper" is a euphemism for buying a gun illegally.

"You put that in your notes," Hood then said to Schmitt. "Tell me where you find that in the 302 (report)."

"I don't see it," Schmitt said.

Wednesday's testimony also shed new light on Ford's dealings with the undercover FBI operative involved in the investigation.

Schmitt testified that he learned after Ford's arrest that on the day of his last sale to the operative - Nov. 21 - the firefighter had grown suspicious.

Ford saw several vehicles he suspected were being used to keep him under surveillance, the agent said.

Ford followed the operative to a parking lot near Boulder, where he watched him turn the gun over to federal agents, Schmitt testified.

When Ford returned home that night, he saw what he believed to be vehicles used by federal agents in his neighborhood.

Hours later, as he drove away from his home in his Jaguar, agents stopped Ford and arrested him.

Notes vs. report

A court hearing Wednesday highlighted differences between the handwritten notes of an FBI and police interview with Denver firefighter Stan Ford, who is accused of illegal guns sales, and the final report of that interview.

•THE NOTES

One passage in the handwritten notes of FBI Agent W. Brian Schmitt said "loves guns" and "buy and sell guns legally."

•THE REPORT

The corresponding passage in Schmitt's official report included a direct quotation attributed to Ford: "I love guns. I love to buy and sell guns. I live for this and if it was taken away, life would not have any meaning to me."

The final portion of the quote does not appear in the agent's notes. When asked if the quote was "verbatim," the agent said it was.

What's next

• Perhaps as soon as today, U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn may rule on a defense motion to suppress Ford's statements. • Six days, April 17-20 and April 24-25, have been scheduled by the judge for Ford's trial.

 

[HangerRat]

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/security_aviation/story/7574427p-7485648c.html

Notice how I was right about it being more than the obvious. . . .Also notice how I posted a link and not 3 PAGES OF GARBAGE that noone cares to read!

 

[FN FAL]

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/security_aviation/story/7574427p-7485648c.html

Notice how I was right about it being more than the obvious. . . .Also notice how I posted a link and not 3 PAGES OF GARBAGE that noone cares to read!

You didn't prove anything...you said a person couldn't own a rocket pod for an airplane. You said a rocket pod for an airplane wasn't a tax issue.

I proved you wrong on both cases.

Now you read a news article and you think it's all that?

Screw you, you little twerp.

Moderator reviewed

 

[HangerRat]

I did. I didn't. Its not.

You didn't.

I know a lot more about this than you think. . and not from news articles,

 

[FN FAL]

I did. I didn't. Its not.

You didn't.

I know a lot more about this than you think. . and not from news articles,

I don't care what you know.

You said rocket pods for airplanes were illegal...I proved you wrong on that.

I told you that rocket pods were a tax issue...I proved you wont on that.

Any other argument is something else and a separate crime.

 

[HangerRat]

. . .not. . .