Anyone know these guys?
ThievesCaught

I know George. The Savage 99 probably changed hands several times before he acquired it.

I've known Richard Futch for over 20 years. He is one of the nicest most honest people in the World. I really believe he will be cleared of any charges! It is a very hard thing for them and their families.

I dunno Butch, I vaguely recognize him from past shows, but the tapes don't lie. IF the written account is basically correct, I think he and the other thief caught on tapes are both in deep shit and it appears, deservedly so. Money, or the lack thereof, will make people do things you wouldn't think they would do.

Adams, the one with the stolen gun on his table....that could happen to anyone of us who trades at shows or on a regular basis, so I'll withhold judgement on him.

Charlie, We'll have to let it play out. The guy from Wichita Falls is a wealthy guy, so I don't believe money was the problem. Richard was retired from a major oil company and gunsmithed as a hobby. He has a couple well known clients. I just do not see Richard as a thief. I don't know the WF guy or the Iowa guy.
As I understand it the Adams guy shared the table with Richard.

I've known George Adams for several years. He is a retired banker. Lives in the country club. Not an ffl dealer. He collects savage 99 rifles. His only mistake was sharing a table with Richard Futch. When they busted Richard they ran the serial numbers on the whole table. George had a savage 99 which came back stolen in 1995. He would never knowingly have anything to do with a stolen firearm.

Were all in the same boat. We don't have a way to check firearms we buy for stolen. All we can do is keep a record of who we got it from and use our best sense of caution of who we buy or trade guns with.

I bought a rifle from a pawn shop a few years back. The police called me and informed me it was a stolen gun. They picked it up and gave me some paper work to get my money back from the pawn shop. Point is we all are at risk of innocently buying a stolen firearm.

It really concerns me that George did nothing wrong and yet got his character and reputation ruined.

Freddy, Are you saying that Richard is a thief?

Of course not.

quote:

Originally posted by butchlambert:
Freddy, Are you saying that Richard is a thief?

If he ain't, I'd sure like to hear his explanation of why he palmed a derringer off another dealer's table and hid it under his. If he has one, apparently it wasn't good enough for the cops not to book him.

The third guy is toast and should definitely serve time, but his age might get him probation or confessing and returning a trunk full of previously stolen guns. It would be interesting to track large dollar gun thefts at shows he has attended. You can bet your ass this wasn't his first time or probably his tenth.

You were a witness Charlie or?

No, the tapes were.

Charlie,
We need to see how this plays out.

Supporting your friends is one thing, being stupid about it is another. If he's such a good friend, ask him what happened. I firmly believe that if something is worth arguing over, it is worth backing one's judgement with hard cash, which I am always willing to do. Meanwhile, I'll bet $1000 against $200 that he pleads out, pleads no lo contendere, or is convicted (death excluded), probably to a lesser charge but is guilty. Bet or no bet?

Charlie, Charlie! We will see how it turns out. So you think he is guilty because I won't take your bet? If it turns out you are right, I will acknowledge it.
A $1000. from you would pay for a good BBQ meal and a night in a nice hotel.

No, I think it is easy to say how you FEEL but when it comes to backing your FEELINGS with hard cash then you don't FEEL quite so strongly about his innocence.

As my Daddy used to say, "Talk is cheap, but it takes hard cash to buy real drinking whiskey."

FWIW, I hope he is innocent, but the chances are just about zero. If there was a reasonable explanation for why he took the derringer and hid it, then it would have come out immediately as he would have said, "Wait, so and so told me to take the derringer on consignment, to clean up", etc. etc.....or the one of the myriad other possibilities that weren't said BEFORE he was booked. Who knows he or his lawyers might be able to convince the derringer owner that he made a mistake? Could happen, but not likely.

The other guy has no chance.

I think Adams will likely be able to get off and probably, deservedly so.

OK Charlie,
You can climb down from your pulpit. You evidently have strong feelings about this for some reason.
I had much rather give Richard $1000. to help him as it will cost him a bunch as an innocent person.
I'll leave this alone until it is resolved. Mine and your differences do not solve the issue.

quote:

I had much rather give Richard $1000. to help him as it will cost him a bunch as an innocent person.

You're right about my strong feelings, I don't like thieves, and I particularly don't like thieves in the relatively tight knit gun show/collecting community.

I'm ALMOST curious enough about how innocent he is to drive up to Tulsa to hear the trial, but usually they plead out or get a new date and I'd be out 9 hours of driving for nothing.

A detective once told me that records on a stolen tv for example, are only kept a few years. Records on stolen guns are kept forever. The Savage being stolen in 1995 seems to confirm this.

quote:

Originally posted by carpetman1:
A detective once told me that records on a stolen tv for example, are only kept a few years. Records on stolen guns are kept forever. The Savage being stolen in 1995 seems to confirm this.

When information storage was more of a problem records were sent into an inactive file but still can be searched.

I have not been involved with the system for 5 years now could have changed

George Adams was cleared of all charges.

Any word on the other two?

I haven't heard anything about the others.

I spoke with George Adams today. He showed me a letter from his attorney stating that the Tulsa Oklahoma authorities have determined that the Savage Model 99 confiscated from George at the Wanemacher Tulsa Gun Show was NOT stolen. It has been returned to George and he has been cleared of all charges.

George has sent a letter by registered mail to Wanemacher requesting a letter stating the same along with a request to reserve a table for the forth coming fall gun show.

Any word on the other two?

I have no information on the others.

Wanenmacher Tulsa Arms Show



Gun dealer George Adams sits at his booth at the Wanenmacher Tulsa Arms Show on Friday.  JAMES GIBBARD/Tulsa World



Buy this photo






Posted: Saturday, November 14, 2015 12:01 am | Updated: 10:11 am, Tue Dec 8, 2015.

By KELLY BOSTIAN World Outdoors Writer | 2 comments



Photo gallery: Wanenmacher gun show is this weekend at Expo Square







George Adams is happy to be back at the Wanenmacher Tulsa Arms Show after being escorted out in handcuffs last spring — except for one thing.


“I’m all squared away with Wanenmacher,” Adams said. “The part that’s hard to get over is that dag-gummed Internet.”


At the Wanenmacher show in April, Adams, 78, of Wichita Falls, Texas, was one of three men arrested under suspicion of stealing guns.


He was cleared of wrongdoing and never charged, but that doesn’t mean the process was easy. He still must face lingering frustration over news stories and gun forum postings that live online in perpetuity.


“I had a letter in my pocket from my attorney that I’ve shown to people — explains the whole thing,” he said. “People read it and say, ‘Well, George, I never really thought you were a crook.’”


For the show underway Saturday and Sunday at Expo Square, Adams has a single table that was found for him at the last minute as a temporary measure. Next spring he will reclaim the two-table set and good location he enjoyed for more than 20 years, according to the show’s founder, Joe Wanenmacher.


“He petitioned to get his spot back. He wasn’t charged or anything, so he’s been reinstated,” Wanenmacher said.


The story in the Tulsa World that featured Adams’ booking mug with others accused in the case last spring, along with ensuing discussions on gun forums and chat rooms, has been hard to live down, Adams said.


The story gained traction as the three older men were arrested thanks to a new video surveillance system that covers every corner of the River Spirit Expo building.


The system helped track Kenneth Lee Reynolds, 74, of Ottumwa, Iowa, as he took a custom rifle and a classic shotgun estimated at a combined value of nearly $36,000 and stashed them outside the building in his vehicle.


In late June, Reynolds admitted the thefts. He pleaded guilty in Tulsa District Court to two counts of grand larceny and two counts of knowingly receiving or concealing stolen property.


Court records show he was sentenced to four concurrent 4-year deferred sentences, to be supervised by the courts in his home state. He paid roughly $4,000 in fines and court costs. As a condition of his parole, he is not allowed to own, carry or possess firearms of any kind. If he completes the probationary period without issue, his criminal record will be expunged.


Richard Eugene Futch, 68 of Seymore, Texas — who shared table space with Adams — was accused of stealing a Colt derringer worth an estimated $1,200. In July he pleaded guilty to an amended misdemeanor charge of petit larceny and received a 12-month deferred sentence.


He paid roughly $1,000 in fines and court costs. At the completion of the 12-month period, if there are no issues, his record will be expunged, according to court documents.


No charges were filed against Adams, and he and his attorney say they still are puzzled as to why he was arrested and forced to post bond in the first place.


Apparently because Futch shared his table space, police chose to run serial numbers of all the guns on the table after they found the stolen derringer, said Adams’ attorney, Gerald Hilsher with McAfee & Taft in Tulsa. One number came back as a rifle that had been stolen in 1995.


In follow-up checks, it was determined the gun was not stolen after all, but that came weeks after Adams’ arrest and after all of his guns were seized by police, including several on consignment from a close friend who is a retired Texas judge.


The judge’s guns were returned after a few weeks. It took a little longer to recover the rest of the weapons — including the supposedly stolen rifle, Adams said.


Guns stolen years earlier, and sold a few times since, sometimes turn up at pawn shops and at gun shows, he said.


“I’ve been at two different shows over the years where someone found a stolen gun on their table and it was turned in, but no one was ever arrested,” Adams said. “The police came and they handed them the gun and they said ‘thank you’ and they left.”


Hilsher said he believes the incident hinged on Futch being at the table. Futch was someone Adams met through local Texas gun shows, and Adams agreed to share some table space with him because he had the room to spare.


“He didn’t really know him all that well,” Hilsher said. “But here you have two guys at a table and they’re both from Texas.”


“To the police, all the sudden, well, we were partners,” Adams said. “It was guilt by association.”

I don't for the life of me understand why the other two thieves are going to be allowed to have their records expunged. Damn, they must have had a well connected lawyer.

Have to agree Gato