The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and a national sport-shooting association are offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who burglarized a pawn shop in Newport last month, stealing 22 firearms.
The theft happened July 1 at The Money Shop, a federally licensed firearms dealer.
Special agents assigned to the ATF field office in Portland, along with the Newport Police Department and Maine State Police, are investigating the burglary and theft that occurred at approximately 4 a.m., according to an ATF news release.
Newport police Chief Leonard Macdaid said he had little to add to the ATF release, but said he is concerned that “there were quite a few weapons taken out” and are now on the street.
Macdaid said the burglars broke through the front door of the pawn shop, loaded up the guns and took off. He said there is some video surveillance from the store and police have suspects.
“We’ve got some stuff we needed, but we’re still working on the case,” he said by phone Wednesday. “We do have some pretty active leads right now, but we haven’t confirmed them 100 percent, so we’re still working on it.”
The ATF is teaming up with the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the firearms industry, in offering the reward. The reward is part of a larger national initiative in which the sporting group matches ATF rewards in cases involving the theft of firearms from licensed retailers. ATF works closely with members of the firearms industry to curb the criminal acquisition and misuse of firearms, according to the release.
“ATF’s immediate concern is locating the whereabouts of these stolen firearms,” ATF Special Agent in Charge Lawrence J. Panetta said in the release. “We are confident that with the public’s assistance, we’ll receive the critical information needed, which will ultimately result in an arrest.”
The ATF asks that anyone with information about the burglary call the ATF field office at 780-3324 during business hours or the ATF Firearms Theft Hotline at 888-930-9275, the Newport Police Department at 368-3263, or the Maine State Police at 973-3700.
ATF is the federal law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over investigating crimes involving the illegal use or possession of firearms.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
