LA Times – by Richard Winton and Matt Hamilton
Federal agents seized about five dozen firearms worth tens of thousands of dollars from a high-ranking Pasadena police officer during a raid earlier this year, according to newly released government records.
The Feb. 16 search of the officer’s Sierra Madre home by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was widely publicized, but authorities did not identify the officer or detail what was recovered.
The cache of weapons was an enormous haul that took two trucks to cart away.
On Sunday, a federal registry of potential forfeited assets listed 57 firearms that were seized from the home of Lt. Vasken Gourdikian, who most recently served as the Pasadena Police Department’s spokesman and an adjutant to Chief Phillip L. Sanchez.
After the ATF raid, Gourdikian was placed on paid administrative leave, the Police Department launched an internal probe and his biography was removed from the city’s website.
At Gourdikian’s four-bedroom home in the San Gabriel Valley, agents reported hauling off more than 30 pistols, three shotguns and 20 rifles, among other weapons. The arsenal ranged from small handguns to tactical weapons such as a $1,700 Bushmaster combat rifle, the records show. The estimated values of the seized guns ranged from $100 to $3,800.
Gourdikian has not been charged with a crime, and city officials said the ATF search was unrelated to his work with the department.
Ginger Colbrun, an ATF spokeswoman, said there was an ongoing federal investigation into the officer but she declined to comment on it. She also did not identify the officer. The federal search warrant for Gourdikian’s home remains under seal.
About six weeks after the search, the top ATF agent in Los Angeles, Eric Harden, sent a letter to area police chiefs and sheriffs, notifying them that investigators had found more than 100 “off-roster” guns purchased by police.
Such guns are not on a California list of approved handguns for purchase by the public, but the law gives a special exception to police officers to buy these weapons.
Colbrun said the agency found law enforcement officers who were acting as firearms dealers and that the officers appeared to be buying and reselling weapons without a federal firearms license, a violation of federal law.
The investigation into off-roster firearms began with reports on firearms sales and weapons found at crime scenes.
Firearms generally average about 10 years between the time of purchase and when they show up at a crime scene. If the window is shorter — for instance, three years — it triggers a red flag, Colbrun said.
Further digging revealed some law enforcement officers who made “significant purchases and resales of firearms,” Colbrun added.
Gourdikian, who has served with the Pasadena Police Department since 1994, remains on leave, city spokesman William Boyer said this week.
Twitter: @MattHjourno
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-pasadena-firearms-list-20170501-story,amp.html
Of course I would oppose this raid if it were anyone other than a pig on the receiving end. But I’m perfectly happy to see the police state eat its own. Let the pig enforcers see that they, too, will lose their freedom in the prison state they’re being paid to impose on everyone else.
“Gourdikian has not been charged with a crime,…”
The king’s men are exempt, don’cha know.
What a crock of crap. This is all B S. Why would it take two trucks to haul away 57 guns?
Hey… I heard the Beach Boys are getting back together like the blues brothers.
Their new hit reunion single.
That little old lady’s cop husband from Pasadena with a small arsenal of weapons.
Stop it…u guys are killin me.