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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Project Gunwalker: Congressional Inquiries Turn To Houston |
| 2011-08-08 |
| Snipped for length For weeks, congressional leaders have grilled officials with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives about an operation in Arizona called "Fast and Furious." Now, some of those pointed questions are focusing on a gun trafficking investigation conducted by the ATF's Houston office. "The ATF agents encouraged them to go through with the sales," said Houston attorney Dick DeGuerin, who represents Carter's Country, the largest independent gun retailer in our region. DeGuerin said starting in 2006, Houston ATF agents asked Carter's Country for help by alerting agents when a suspicious gun buyer tried to purchase multiple weapons. DeGuerin referred to this effort as a "stall and call." "Stall the purchaser, call the ATF, let an ATF agent come out and watch the sale so they could follow it," DeGuerin said. "Did the ATF always show up?" asked Local 2 Investigator Robert Arnold. "No, they didn't," DeGuerin said. DeGuerin claimed there were at least six instances when agents did not show up when store employees alerted the ATF to a suspicious gun buyer. Yet, DeGuerin said the ATF still told employees to let the sales go through. "So they went through with the sale, reported it and who knows what happened," said DeGuerin. Officials with the ATF's Houston Office declined Local 2's request for an on-camera interview. However, during a face-to-face meeting with Arnold, an ATF spokesperson denied agreeing to such an arrangement, citing a lack of manpower to respond to every call about a suspicious gun buyer. An ATF spokesperson also told Local 2 the Bureau has always asked for the cooperation of firearms dealers. "They're one of our best sources of information on suspicious gun purchases," the spokesperson said. However, ATF officials conceded Carter's Country may have "misconstrued" the bureau's request for help in reporting suspicious sales as a request to allow suspicious sales to go through so the ATF could track the buyer later. ATF officials said they never asked anyone to perform a "stall and call." "They did (the sales) because they were asked to do so by the ATF," DeGuerin argued. The Houston operation led to the arrest and conviction of more than 20 so-called "straw buyers" purchasing weapons for the drug cartels. DeGuerin said Carter's Country continued calling ATF agents with reports of suspicious gun buyers until 2010. "They got notified they were under investigation, and that's what pulled the plug," said DeGuerin, referring to a federal grand jury investigation launched by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston. DeGuerin said despite years of supplying tips to the ATF, Carter's Country employees were accused of "being in league with, in other words, conspiring with the straw purchasers and it simply wasn't true." DeGuerin prepared a chart that responded to investigators' questions about 16 specific gun sales that took place during the ATF's Houston operation. "On each and every one of them, we had the date and time and the manner in which the ATF had been notified," said DeGuerin, who allowed Local 2 to view the chart. DeGuerin declined to allow Local 2 to copy the chart, citing personal information of Carter's Country employees. DeGuerin said at his insistence, the U.S. Attorney's Office and an ATF agent involved in the investigation met with him and Carter's Country's owners. DeGuerin said during the meeting, he presented the chart of information regarding the 16 suspicious gun sales. DeGuerin said "pretty promptly" after that meeting he received a letter from the U.S. Attorney's Office stating the investigation into Carter's Country was being dropped. DeGuerin said this was not the end of the questions. DeGuerin said he and Carter's Country owner, Bill Carter, traveled to Washington, D.C., at the request of congressional staffers and attorneys looking into the Fast and Furious operation. DeGuerin said Carter recounted his relationship with the ATF during the Houston investigation. DeGuerin said he also gave attorneys for the "minority and majority" a copy of the same chart he shared with the U.S. Attorney's Office. |
| Posted by:Sherry |