Author Topic: Arrested for buying everyday items at Walmart.  (Read 1510 times)

Lilburner

Arrested for buying everyday items at Walmart.
« on: October 21, 2020, 04:41:07 PM »
First a disclaimer. I see stories on prepper groups from time to time along the lines of "Arrested for prepping!" Then I get into the article and there's something along the lines of "selling illegal guns to undercover agents" or "bomb making", etc., which negates the headline.

This story is about two guys who ABSOLUTELY committed a crime. But the reason they got CAUGHT is completely unacceptable. A college student gave his roommate $200 to buy him a rifle. Straw purchase all day long. No excuses.

BUT. The reason they got caught was because the recipient of the rifle had his home searched.

"Investigators found the weapon in Maximilien Reynolds’ Ithaca apartment after receiving a tip from a Wal-Mart employee that Maximilien had purchased ammo, camping gear, knives and other “suspicious” items."

Meaning at the time of the search, the police knew nothing of the crime. They obtained a search warrant because a Walmart employee reported him FOR BUYING SPORTING GOODS.

https://www.syracuse.com/crime/2020/01/former-cornell-student-admits-straw-purchase-of-gun-for-classmate-who-had-weapons-cache.html

That's scary as hell to me, and I can't think of a single scenario in which that's not a total miscarriage of "justice". What do y'all think?
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many bad measures.
~ Daniel Webster

8greenbeans

Re: Arrested for buying everyday items at Walmart.
« Reply #1 on: October 21, 2020, 05:02:10 PM »
Not that it matters but I'd like to know what other "suspicious" purchases there were. This is concerning & scary for a number of reasons. Mainly in that shopping feels no longer safe. What's next? Oh you bought fertilizer for your "garden" so we obtained a warrant to see if you were making a b**b?

USMC Veteran, LEO Mama
Navy MIL, USAF Vet Mama
Army Daughter
8 Beans
9 GrandBeans + 1 on the way
3 Beans-in-law, 3 Future-in-laws
1 MrBeans

Lilburner

Re: Arrested for buying everyday items at Walmart.
« Reply #2 on: October 22, 2020, 01:39:32 PM »
It shouldn't matter what other suspicious items.

Presumably anything sold at Walmart is legal in the store its sold in. So why would anything be "suspicious"?

I could see a FEW things maybe going on a list when purchased in great quantity. Ammonium Nitrate fertilizer (which I don't think they sell) and meth ingredients being the only ones that come to mind. But he wasn't targeted for either.

Everything mentioned is something I might walk out of a Walmart with on a random Tuesday.
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many bad measures.
~ Daniel Webster

ProGeek

Re: Arrested for buying everyday items at Walmart.
« Reply #3 on: October 23, 2020, 12:12:06 PM »
Maybe it was the 300 rounds of ammunition? Did he buy that all at once? Do you still question me trying to reduce my digital footprint?
If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.

Fixit

Re: Arrested for buying everyday items at Walmart.
« Reply #4 on: October 23, 2020, 01:32:13 PM »
A  couple of things here . First be smart what you buy together. For instance i never buy supper and potassium nitrate at the same time. The shooter is used to lower on of ground,food preservation and a long list of other things . Potassium nitrate i use to cure meat . Now if wet and bought them at the same time it screams black powder.
Second once the walmar t employee call the report in the police didn't care not follow up on it. It's the nature of the world we live in.

Third the straw buy was illegal.

upacreek

Re: Arrested for buying everyday items at Walmart.
« Reply #5 on: October 24, 2020, 02:36:28 PM »
I hadn’t read the article until today when I saw the huge quantity of ammo he had stockpiled due to his mental illness. 300 rounds! Wow, I for one am glad the Walmart employee reported him. See something, say something.

ATF gone yet?  WTF?  300 rounds and only one gun is a stockpile? Does no one in the police department shoot regularly? I recognize that the gun was bought illegally, but my own encounters with the police and seeing the guilty walk free over and over lead me to believe that there needs to be a way a good person can gain back a right to protect himself.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

ProGeek

Re: Arrested for buying everyday items at Walmart.
« Reply #6 on: October 24, 2020, 03:01:42 PM »
The cops are really touchy lately about anything with guns, even legal ones. I bought 2 20# bags of sugar for my bees at Publix once and got sideways looks. People are full of fear right now, not just the Rona, fear of everything. OPSEC needs to be strictly observed right now.
If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.

Abigayle

Re: Arrested for buying everyday items at Walmart.
« Reply #7 on: October 24, 2020, 06:57:49 PM »
After 911, wasn't the Patriot Act put into effect?  How much further down that road will be be willing to travel?  I agree that this case is a good example of "if you see something, say something" and we would be asking why no one bothered if the outcome was grime.  It is a very fine line.
Ariel

cope

Re: Arrested for buying everyday items at Walmart.
« Reply #8 on: October 25, 2020, 02:57:14 PM »
the whole straw purchase law is kinda grey area to me.    Whats to say I buy a gun with my money for myself. I walk out the door of the store I purchased it from. Someone later that week offers me double for what I paid for it because of 2020 its getting hard to find guns and ammo and they want one for protection. OK I sell it to them. Was that a straw purchase?

What if I buy a gun as a gift. Now technically I am not buying the gun for me I may be buying it for a husband or wife or son or daughter to give to them as a gift for birthday Christmas anniversary etc. I dont want them to come into the store to see me purchase it and dont want them to know im getting it. Is that a straw purchase?

I would say no neither one are in my examples but you can see where law enforcement could easily say it was and how would you prove it wasn't?

Ive done trades with friends, sold and bought guns from friends. Are those straw purchases?

The fact this guy couldn't legally purchase guns and had one and had a friend buy it for him is why he went to jail. But how would anyone know unless someone talked?
Also why would what he bought raise eyebrows to the Walmart employee? Why would that raise eyebrows of the cops? There must be more to the story we aren't getting. The media is bad about leaving out information in stories these days. Did the Walmart employee know maxamillion and know that he couldn't own guns so thought it odd he was buying ammo? That would make sense to then call the cops possibly. Why did the police have divers searching a canal? What made them look there? what did they expect to find? why was there a firearm there that was one of maxamillions and how did they know to look there? Theres alot of holes in this story.

bountyhunter

Re: Arrested for buying everyday items at Walmart.
« Reply #9 on: October 25, 2020, 03:44:59 PM »
There is more to this story that what everyone is saying and what actually happened.
Watch your six!
ARRL VE
W5YI VE
Ham Radio General
Region 4 Moderator
US NAVY (RET)
"Never miss the opportunity to train"

 

SimplePortal 2.3.7 © 2008-2024, SimplePortal