Collector’s Weapons Led to Legal Firestorm

When we last heard from former Escondido policeman John Gaines, he was dueling with federal authorities for the return of his cherished Vietnam-era rocket launcher.

Gaines, a collector of exotic weapons, claimed the deactivated device was legal to own, but the U.S. Naval Investigative Service at Camp Pendleton thought otherwise and confiscated the launcher last summer.

But that episode was a parlor dance compared to what’s happened to Gaines since then. In October, 15 armed naval investigators and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms raided his Oceanside machine shop and his Escondido home, prompted by an informant who suggested that Gaines was trafficking in illegal military munitions or might be making silencers.

Authorities found no unlawful explosives or devices, but they didn’t come away empty-handed.

At Gaines’ home they found a single marijuana plant and some registered firearms--a combination that was enough for a federal grand jury to indict him for crimes that could have meant an 11-year prison term and a $250,000 fine.

“They made John Gaines sound like Jesse James,” said Gaines’ attorney, Gary Orlansky.

After much wrangling--and a constitutional challenge--Gaines, 45, pleaded guilty this month to simple possession of the marijuana under a plea bargain with prosecutors.

But Gaines said the tangle with the law damaged his business and his marriage and that its consequences will last for years.

Even federal Special Agent Bob Lowery had to admit: “This was the case from hell. It just wouldn’t go away.”

It didn’t turn out the way anybody expected, least of all the federal investigators who thought they’d get a bigger prize than a single pot plant.

Last summer, things seemed to have settled down for Gaines, a talkative connoisseur of offbeat military antiquities, after authorities seized his 3 1/2-foot long, shoulder-fired Redeye rocket launcher. Gaines said he wanted the launcher--which he said he got as a gift--for a wall display.

He complained to Rep. Ron Packard (R-Carlsbad) and to the media, trying to win back the inoperable weapon that military officials declared must be destroyed under federal regulations.

Then in October, Gaines’ simple sorrows over his lost rocket launcher turned into big league troubles when the 15 federal agents, carrying a search warrant, arrived at his business.

The agents “jumped out with guns drawn,” Gaines recalled. “These men were all clad in black, like a Gestapo, with ‘BATF’ on their bulletproof vests.”

Why the raid?

Lowery, who was in charge, said it had nothing to do with the earlier dispute over the rocket launcher or Gaines taking his complaint to Packard and the media.

“Our attention was based on information that Gaines might have been involved in the trafficking of live, stolen military munitions,” Lowery said. He declined to talk about the informant or the allegations in more detail.

Agents did find two legally registered handguns at the machine shop that Gaines said he kept to protect himself and his expensive equipment.

Ex-cop Gaines said that during the search of his shop, as he sat in handcuffs, Lowery asked him what agents would find at his house. “Knowing the kind of destruction these people are prone to, I replied, ‘The only thing I can think of is one small marijuana plant.’ ”

“Lowery asked what it was used for and I replied that I use it once in a while for medical purposes for high blood pressure and hypertension,” said Gaines, who left the Escondido police force in the late 1970s.

Some agents peeled off for Escondido and, leaving Gaines behind in the custody of other agents, visited his home, where his wife let them in.

Once again, authorities found no illicit munitions, but located other registered firearms and the marijuana plant growing in the back yard.

Lowery said it was 6-feet tall and “would have netted a little less than two pounds,” although he acknowledged the weight might have included the plant itself, with dirt and packing. Gaines said the plant was 4-feet high and would have yielded less than two ounces of pot.

In addition to the plant, investigators discovered a small quantity of harvested pot inside the house and paraphernalia for smoking it.

At any rate, Orlansky said, “they obviously didn’t think it was for anything but personal use.”

Although Lowery was disappointed at the haul, “we did not find munitions, but we did in fact find guns and drugs,” he said.

The weapons confiscated from the home and business included a .22-caliber Ruger pistol, a .25-caliber Beretta pistol, a .38-caliber Smith and Wesson revolver, a .22-caliber Remington rifle and an Interdynamic Model KG-9 semiautomatic pistol with a laser scope. There were also 210 rounds of assorted ammunition.

Soon after the Oct. 11 search, a federal grand jury indicted Gaines on felony counts of using a controlled substance, and, because of drug possession, illegally possessing firearms and ammunition.

If convicted, Gaines would have faced imprisonment for 11 years and a $250,000 fine. Attorney Orlansky argued that federal prosecutors should have dropped the matter since the most damaging thing found was the marijuana plant.

But from Lowery’s perspective, “we couldn’t, according to the law, walk off and ignore it.”

Yet as time went on, prosecutors did become eager to put the case behind them.

Gaines’ first lawyer, Steven Hubachek, moved that the case be dismissed because the federal statute under which Gaines was charged was unconstitutionally vague. He also argued that the confidential informant against Gaines must be produced for inquiry.

In court documents, Hubachek pointed out, “Because the statute contains no requirement of contemporaneous drug use and possession of a firearm, a person could theoretically violate the statute if, at any time in his or her life, he or she has used a controlled substance without a prescription, and simultaneously or subsequently possessed a firearm.”

Further, he argued, the law failed to spell out whether “one use, 10 uses” or daily use of drugs identifies a person as an “unlawful user of a controlled substance” under the federal law.

The prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Atty. Cynthia Bashant, told The Times she wasn’t at liberty to discuss the case in depth. “I just don’t feel comfortable making comments,” she said.

However, Orlansky believes prosecutors were motivated to accept a plea bargain because of debate over whether Gaines was properly given his Miranda rights and an unwillingness to face a long fight over the constitutional issues.

“Basically,” said Orlansky, “they didn’t feel he was a danger to society.”

Actually, authorities said, they believe Gaines needed to be taught a lesson because of his marijuana use, admitted drinking problem and allegations that he handled his semiautomatic Interdynamic pistol in a threatening manner to neighboring business people.

Lowery said, “There were reports by neighbors of him brandishing his weapon.”

Gaines has a different--if no less intimidating--recollection, saying: “Oh no, no. He (Lowery) made a mistake. I’m sure he meant the rocket launcher.”

He claims he simply showed the device to someone outside his shop before the launcher was confiscated last summer.

The court was concerned enough about Gaines to order him into a halfway house for observation for about 10 days, and order a psychiatric evaluation. Orlansky said that “the psychiatrist said he seems to be a normal gentleman” but “a little bit hyperactive.”

After pleading guilty to one count of simple possession before federal Magistrate Barry Moskowitz, Gaines was given no jail time, but sentenced to three years’ probation, a $1,000 fine, psychological counseling and weekly drug testing.

Further, his guns will be impounded until he finishes probation and authorities “can search his home any time, day or night. They don’t need a warrant,” said Orlansky.

Gaines said he has voluntarily begun attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

He has brought his case to the attention of the National Rifle Assn. and said Packard’s office is looking into the case.

Gaines is upset and alleges that agents who searched his residence in October “really annihilated my home and there’s no reason for that.” Also, he is bothered about the thousands of dollars it cost him to defend himself and the money the government spent to prosecute the case.

Gaines said he is rebuilding his business, strengthening his marriage that suffered during the stressful time and is determined to keep a low profile.

“I don’t want any more trouble with these people,” he said.