Thread: Federal Marshalls encounter
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Old 09-13-2007, 17:55   #14
The Reaper
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Quote:
Originally Posted by clapdoc View Post
So I am going, with counsel, and be interviewed by the FBI.
Exactly the way to do it. Never go without lawyering up.

And stop talking when you have answered the question.

Many years ago, an SF Captain who was a friend of mine had an FFL and sold guns in his spare time (back when you could still do that out of your house). He was getting out of the Army and had a class date for the FBI Academy just a few months before he hit the magic age cutoff for Federal LEOs.

He sold an AR-15 and a Remington 700 to a guy who paid cash, in $100 bills.

My buddy gets a call from the Secret Service, and he assumes that they are running a background check.

Turns out that the $100s are counterfeit. They make him go redeem the counterfeit money for his personal cash, and put him on the watch list. They also notify the BATF, which was part of the Treasury at that time, and they pull his records and rake him over the coals. He had the 4473s and all of the proper paperwork, but it takes time to prove your innocence.

He gets a call from the FBI saying that he is under investigation, and that he has to clear it up before his class date or miss the opportunity.

The Secret Service agrees to change his status from suspect to wirtness, if he agrees to testify against the counterfeiter in court. All is cool, for a couple of weeks.

Then they catch the counterfeiter's partner, and he agrees to roll over and dime out his buddy. Then they no longer need the Captain's testimony, so he goes back into the suyspect mode, and finally hires a lawyer (he didn't need one before because, as we all knew, he was innocent).

By the time they sort it all out and he is cleared, he missed his class and is over the age limit, so "bye bye" FBI opportunity, hello GM. But that is another story.

Bottom line: Hire a good attorney before answering any questions, even if you are innocent. Things can change quickly. And if you are stopped by LEO, one of the first issues is to establish who and where you are and determine who and where they are looking for.

TR
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