BUSTED: Police Chief Seized Citizen’s Guns, Sold Them for Profit

How’s that for gun control?

Lead Hill Police Chief Kenny Barnes was arrested by Arkansas State Police yesterday for allegedly seizing a number of guns from a citizen and then turning around and selling them.

The accusations say Barnes went to a citizen’s home under the guise of an official investigation, although he was actually off duty at the time. Several of the guns seized were later sold to other community members, and Barnes pocketed the cash for those transactions.

The Boone County Sheriff’s Office has charged Barnes with abuse of public trust, abuse of office, felony theft of property, and release or disclosure to unauthorized person. His bond is set at $75,000.

A similar story came out of Carter County, Missouri in 2009, when then-Sheriff Tommy Adams seized firearms from a residence after responding to a call and gaining consent to search. He and his former deputy Steffanie Marie Kearbey allegedly kept the guns at Kearbey’s home, and Kearbey was later caught selling one to a Missouri Highway Patrol informant.

During the investigation, 12 guns were found in Kearbey’s home including five stolen ones, and another 14 in Adams’ residence including a stolen .243 Remington rifle Adams admitted he personally arranged to have stolen and actually drove the thief to the location to commit the theft himself. Both admitted they had also used methamphetamine recovered from crimes scenes while on the job as well.

Adams plead guilty to four of the five counts in April 2012 including two counts of possession of a stolen firearm, sale of a stolen firearm and being a drug user in possession of firearms, and Kearby pled similarly. Adams and Kearbey were sentenced to 120 and 60 months in prison respectively.

Melissa Melton is a writer, researcher, and analyst for The Daily Sheeple, where this first appeared, and a co-creator of Truthstream Media. Wake the flock up!