Thread: Innocent citizen jailed for cooperating with ATF (Gunrunner)

New Mexico connection--innocent citizen jailed for cooperating with ATF

Anthony Martin
Conservative Examiner
July 16, 2011

So far in the continually unfolding story of historic corruption and scandal at the Department of Justice and its bureau, the ATF, the focus has been primarily upon Phoenix and Tampa. Another possible connection surfaced last week involving the Houston, Texas field office of the ATF.

However, in the growing media frenzy that has resulted from irrefutable, bombshell evidence implicating the DOJ and the ATF in an illegal scheme to place American guns into the hands of Mexican and Honduran criminals, yet another connection has been largely overlooked involving the state of New Mexico and ATF field agents in the small border town of Columbus, NM.

The importance of the New Mexico connection lies in the fact that an innocent citizen sits in jail on bogus charges, charges that fail to recognize that his 'crimes' involved nothing more than doing what he was told by law enforcement acting on behalf of ATF agents as they made straw purchases of firearms from his gun shop in Columbus.

Ian Garland owns and operates 'Chapparel Guns' in Chapparel, New Mexico, which is located near Columbus. In late 2009 or early 2010 the police chief and mayor of Columbus came into Garland's store and told him that they wished to purchase high-powered firearms--AK-47s--to give to their families for protection against Mexican drug cartels. According to records, Garland followed the law, obtaining the necessary background checks, completing the required paperwork, and receiving the expressed agreement of the ATF.

What Ian Garland did not know is that he had just participated in an ATF scheme to walk U.S. guns into Mexico. For this, he sits in jail where he has been since March, without bail. His public defender offered him a plea bargain--tell the judge that he knew where the guns were going (to Mexico), which he did not know, and he can get out of jail. In other words, Garland's plea bargain is that in exchange for being released from jail he must lie.

While behind bars Garland wrote a lengthy handwritten letter in which he described what took place. That letter is reproduced in 6 parts here, here, here, here, here, and here. It is an excruciating story of how the life of one innocent citizen was totally ruined by corrupt agents of the federal government. His house, his business, his animals, his good name are all gone. And his wife is on the verge of a complete mental breakdown.

But why? Why would the ATF throw an innocent man in jail and charge him with multiple felonies involving weapons trafficking?

And Garland is not the only one. The police chief and mayor of Columbus, New Mexico--along with 9 other citizens of the town--have been similarly charged.

To understand the reason for this gross injustice, one must grasp the mindset that is currenty entrenched in the ATF and the Department of Justice under Eric Holder. Obeying the law is not a requirement. What matters is the agenda that must be propagated at all costs. If the law gets in the way, it must be broken, and if caught, a coverup must ensue.

It already has been established that the DOJ and the ATF are presently involved in such a coverup. Project Gunwalker--Operation Fast and Furious--has been exposed. Now the goal is to try to salvage what little reputation is left for the ATF. Thus, the indictments against Ian Garland and over a dozen citizens in Columbus, New Mexico. The indictments were handed down with great fanfare and publicity, supposedly to show that the stellar ATF is doing its job in catching criminals, as this report from Salem News indicates:


...last week, ATF, along with ICE, announced that 11 people in the small border town of Columbus, N.M., including the mayor and police chief, had been indicted on gun-trafficking charges.

From the ATF’s PR announcement on the indictment in Columbus:

The indictment alleges that, between January 2010 and March 2011, the defendants engaged in a conspiracy to purchase firearms for illegal export to Mexico. During this 14-month period, the defendants allegedly purchased about 200 firearms from "Chaparral Guns," a store owned and operated by defendant Ian Garland.

But in the case of both of these “good stories,â€

This needs to be investigated as well by Issa and Grassley too.

...last week, ATF, along with ICE, announced that 11 people in the small border town of Columbus, N.M., including the mayor and police chief, had been indicted on gun-trafficking charges

This article says 3 of the 11 have pleaded guilty including the mayor.
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-243750.html