PROSECUTOR: 73 GUNS TAKEN
EX-UNDERSHERIFF
ADMITS STEALING,
SELLING FIREARMS
Retired Officer Bruce Carroll
Pleads Guilty, Fined $10,000
COOPERSTOWN – Former Otsego County Undersheriff A. Bruce Carroll, 75, Town of Maryland, is facing five years’ probation after pleading guilty in federal court to possession of stolen firearms and sale of a stolen firearm, Sheriff Richard J. Devlin announced in a press release a few minutes ago.
In addition, Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas McAvoy on July 9 fined Carroll $10,000 and ordered him to perform 150 hours of community service, according to an announcement from Acting U.S. Attorney Grant C. Jaquith released by Devlin.
According to Devlin, he was alerted to a “discrepancy” in 2016; he alerted District Attorney John Muehl, and they brought in the FBI to investigate. Carroll surrendered the stolen firearms to the FBI in the early stages of the investigation, the Jaquith announcement said.
As part of a guilty plea on Feb. 3, Carroll acknowledged that on numerous occasions between 1995 and 2007, he stole 73 firearms from the evidence locker and falsely recorded on Sheriff’s Department records that the firearms had been destroyed pursuant to departmental policy.
Instead, Carroll took the firearms to his house and, on “a number of occasions” after retiring from the sheriff’s department, sold some of the stolen firearms to a gun store, according to Jaquith’s announcement.
Between 1995 and 2007, Carroll was “sole evidence custodian for the agency … directly responsible for the maintenance of all evidence recovered by the agency, including firearms,” Jaquith said.
The gun Carroll pleaded guilty to selling, on Sept. 28, 2012, was a stolen Smith & Wesson .44 magnum revolver, according to the announcement.
“As sheriff, I recognize that the citizens have endowed me with a public trust, and I honor that trust by performing my duties to the best of my ability, no matter who perpetrated the crime,” Devlin said in the press release.
“It’s important for the public to know that this was the action of one person who acted illegally and violated your trust and the trust of our agency,” the release said. “This matter has also validated the importance of the internal controls I put into effect in 2009 that adequately safeguards incidents like this from occurring.”
The case was investigated by the FBI, the sheriff’s department, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Carl Eurenius and Carina Schoenberger
This is probably why on many occasions excuses were made why I couldn’t get the rifle back that was stolen from my house and kept in their vault. 10 grand fine that’s nothing for knowingly selling stolen guns, quality,..just quality
How on EARTH did this public servant, a man we are SUPPOSED to be able to trust & admire & look up to, think he would get away with STEALING & RESELLING STOLEN GUNS? And let’s get guns off of the streets, everyone hollers about. This pos should get WAY MORE THAN FIVE YEARS PROBATION. How the courts are swayed, huh? By who you are & where you’re from.
DISGUSTING.
$137 fine per gun? Not what I would have gotten
He should have gotten a harsher sentence
Hats off to sherrif devlin.He implemented new safety standards in 2009 .Why were there no policies in place prior to this. There has been numerous reports of confiscated property being reintroduced back to the public,all over the country. Why was only one person in charge?
I think this guy should be doing jail time. His “punishment” is a joke, considering that he put guns back into circulation that should have been off the streets for good, and he was a police officer at the time. A slap on the wrist indeed! He’s probably collecting his pension too…. Some justice…
He definitely deserves jail time. Also why didn’t he have someone else involved and double checking everything. Where was his boss?
All pensions, health care, etc should immediately be stopped. Many if not most Otsego taxpayers don’t have pensions or life time healthcare yet have to pay for crooked people.