Thread: AZ. Grenade cases spark a dispute

Grenade cases spark a dispute

Officer: Miscommunication left weapons on the street

by Michael Ferraresi -
Nov. 20, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic .

The military-style hand grenades seized this week in west Phoenix are similar to the grenades available on the Internet, at Army surplus stores and at gun shows.

Arizona Department of Public Safety detectives found the 23 weapons inert and crudely plugged at the bottom by U.S. quarters and Mexican coins, though they could be converted into improvised explosive devices - similar to any makeshift pipe bomb.

Some Phoenix officers question if the grenades were the same batch a robbery sergeant claimed he had access to in August through a random tip from an informant in a case that triggered internal investigations.
Sgt. Phil Roberts, a former Phoenix robbery investigator temporarily assigned to patrol in the wake of his August complaint, claimed to be within 100 feet of the grenade dealer when a robbery lieutenant told him to back off the case.

Roberts claimed the miscommunication left 60 hand grenades on the street.

DPS and Phoenix police said Thursday that there is no connection between the three men arrested this week and the ongoing Phoenix investigation into the grenade dealer Roberts investigated this summer.

Two of the three men arrested on suspicion of selling the grenades for $400 apiece are believed to be undocumented immigrants from Mexico, according to DPS.

In the wake of the arrests, the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, which represents nearly 2,500 Phoenix officers and detectives, used its Web site to chastise police leadership for "a decision to shut down an investigation and walk away from a 60-hand-grenade purchase from an illegal alien."

PLEA President Mark Spencer said, "DPS proved there are hand grenades being sold on the streets of Phoenix by illegal Mexican nationals, and the information came through an informant."

"The pattern is remarkably consistent with what Phil Roberts' crew encountered," Spencer said.

"Our hope is that it is the same supplier that links it and so we can track it to a single source."

Roberts wrote a lengthy memo to Phoenix police Violent Crimes Bureau Cmdr. Dave Faulkner in August that the investigation was botched through miscommunications by robbery-unit Lts. Lisa Messina and Lauri Burgett.

Cmdr. Chuck Miiller, who oversees the Phoenix police public-affairs bureau, and others said it was unfortunate that an argument between officers created the misperception that Phoenix detectives deliberately ignored a suspect who was selling live hand grenades.

An Aug. 27 search-warrant affidavit is sealed, though Miiller said the completed Phoenix grenade investigation could be available to the public in two or three weeks.

The grenade memo was the second complaint Roberts filed about Burgett, who earlier this year chose another robbery sergeant over Roberts to join her on the Phoenix Home Invasion and Kidnapping Enforcement unit.

Earlier this year, Roberts filed an equal-opportunity complaint on behalf of robbery Detective Terry Yahweh, who claimed his performance evaluations unfairly reflected his investigative work. Yahweh is a PLEA board member while Roberts joined PLEA earlier as an associate member.

DPS spokesman Harold Sanders praised the cooperation between state and local police in seizing the grenades, though he expressed concern about the misinformation surrounding the DPS investigation and any link to the Phoenix police case.

It is legal to possess hand-grenade casings, according to DPS. But the devices are considered illegal when configured as explosives to use as a form of intimidation or sold under the guise of something that could be used as a deadly weapon.

The reporting by some local media "created this illusion" that law-enforcement errors led to live grenades being left on the street, Sanders said, adding, "It's clear there's no connection to anything (Phoenix has) done."

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... s1120.html

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Who would pay $400 each without seeing one explode first to see if they were real when pipe bombs are much cheaper to make?

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

Who would pay $400 each without seeing one explode first to see if they were real when pipe bombs are much cheaper to make?

Well if you make em then it could be traced back to you, if you buy one it goes back to the illegal which we all know goes nowhere since illegals are above the law.