Gates Foe Says Gun Permits Went to Contributors

A private investigator who is suing Orange County Sheriff Brad Gates took the witness stand Friday and charged that Gates used permits to carry concealed weapons as rewards for his election campaign contributors.

Private investigator Preston Guillory testified that he had been given access to Gates’ gun-permit files by court order and that he found that concealed weapons permits had been issued to 101 people who had given Gates a total of $121,000 in campaign contributions. Guillory’s attorneys said the files covered the years from 1979 until about 1985.

He said the files showed that Gates had approved every permit application made by a campaign contributor and that every contributor had used the same justification: “Carrying large sums of cash.”

Guillory is seeking $5 million from Gates and Anaheim officials, alleging that their investigations of him on suspicion of impersonating a law officer and illegally carrying a concealed weapon were politically motivated. Guillory was acquitted of the charges in 1985.

His lawyers have been trying to show that Gates used his intelligence investigators to spy on and harass his critics and political opponents. In a previous case involving three of Gates’ election opponents, the county paid a $375,000 out-of-court settlement on Gates’ behalf.

Guillory alleges that he became a target for such harassment after he sued Gates for a concealed weapon permit.

He testified Friday that after Gates denied his application for a permit in 1977, he sued the sheriff in Superior Court, alleging that Gates was biased against private investigators.

Guillory said the court ordered Gates not to discriminate against private investigators and instructed Guillory to reapply. When Gates again denied him a permit, Guillory sued in federal court. That suit is still awaiting trial.

Guillory testified that at the time Gates was denying concealed weapon permits to most private investigators, he granted permits to 140 people with criminal records, to 10 people who live outside Orange County or California, and to 52 people for “political considerations.”