www.newsandsentinel.com/news/story/1231202003_new04_GunsStolen.aspGuns stolen from cruiser
By ROGER ADKINS
PARKERSBURG - A city police captain is being investigated and may face disciplinary action after leaving several guns that were police property in his cruiser Monday night, making them an easy target for the thieves who stole them.
Five handguns and two BB guns were removed from Capt. Roger Echard's unmarked police cruiser while it was parked at his Selmar Lane residence off Blennerhassett Heights Road. The thieves broke the glass out of the front driver's side door and damaged the top of the door to gain entry, officials said.
The guns were left in a cardboard box in the rear passenger compartment of the cruiser, said Chief Robert Newell.
The weapons taken were an Intratec .22-caliber semi-automatic handgun, a Taurus .357-magnum revolver, a High Standard .22-caliber revolver, an RG .38-special revolver, an unknown brand .22-caliber revolver and two Daisy BB guns.
Echard is under investigation and may face administrative action, Newell said. No disciplinary action has been taken yet, Newell said.
Newell said he was displeased with Echard's carelessness.
The weapons should not have been left in the passenger compartment of the cruiser, he said.
"It will be reviewed to see if there was something done wrong," Newell said.
"Leaving a box of guns out in the open was incredibly stupid. They should have been in the house or at least locked in the trunk."
The Wood County Sheriff's Office is investigating the break-in because Echard lives outside Parkersburg city limits.
No suspects have been arrested in connection with the break-in.
Echard had taken the guns home after removing them from the property room on the fifth floor of the city building, Newell said. The department's evidence room is a separate storage area located on the third floor of the city building, he said.
The guns were property of the Parkersburg Police Department, but they weren't weapons used by officers. Newell said the guns weren't evidence of any kind, either.
The guns were confiscated by the department in the 1980s. They had no registered owners and were not attached to any pending cases, he said.
Echard wasn't required to log the removal of the guns from the property room, Newell said. It isn't against policy for him to take weapons home because he is in charge of all firearms for the department.
Newell said Echard takes weapons home from time to time if they need maintenance. Though he wasn't initially aware Echard had taken those particular guns home, Newell said Echard later told him it was because he was going to research the value of the firearms.
The department sometimes sells old confiscated and unclaimed firearms to gun dealers in order to acquire money for the purchase of duty weapons for officers or ammunition, Newell said. He said the incident may result in changes to department policy regarding the property room.
It is too early to tell what those changes may be, but an internal investigation is ongoing, he said.
The weapons were fully functional, and now there is potential for them to be recirculated to the public, Newell said. This is disturbing, he said.
"There is always concern when guns are stolen and they're out on the street," Newell said.