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Cop targeted in ATF gun-dealing probe
Same operation prompts charge against suspected seller of gun used to kill Seattle officer
By LEVI PULKKINEN
SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF
Federal agents have seized hundreds of guns in a series of raids against suspected gun dealers, including a retired cop and another man thought to have sold the gun used to kill a Seattle police officer.
According to recently unsealed court documents, federal agents last month conducted a series of stings against four men thought to be illegally dealing firearms at Western Washington gun shows. Court documents suggest that several of the men were sold hundreds of firearms without reporting the sales to authorities or conducting background checks.
Among those whose homes were searched was Roy S. Alloway, identified as a police officer living in Port Orchard who retired in May, according to a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives search warrant affidavit. Alloway has not been charged.
Also targeted was David Devenny, an Olympia man currently charged with selling guns to a convicted felon and ATF informant. Devenny, who has since been released on bond, is the only suspect charged from the raids.
He is alleged to have sold the gun used to kill Seattle Police Officer Timothy Brenton and wound Officer Britt Sweeney in October of 2009. Authorities have stopped short of claiming he sold the rifle directly to the man accused in Brenton's death, Christopher Monfort.
Responding to Devenny's arrest in November, ATF special agent-in-charge for Seattle Kelvin Crenshaw argued that illegal gun dealers "disregard existing federal firearms laws and selfishly feed the illegal supply of guns that impact our streets and communities."
"The illegal selling of guns not only jeopardizes our entire community, but it is a thoughtless act that needlessly jeopardizes innocent lives," Crenshaw said in a statement.
As part of the operation launched in May 2009, undercover agents attended various gun shows around Western Washington posing as customers or would-be unlicensed gun dealers, an ATF special agent based in Seattle told the court in the unsealed search warrant documents.
"It became obvious that many of these private sellers were in the business of selling firearms and not simply selling guns from their private collection," the ATF special agent told the court.
Some individuals, she continued, were dealing almost exclusively in inexpensive handguns and weren't producing any paperwork beyond a written receipt.
'It's all about the money'
In a statement filed with the U.S. District Court, the special agent said the investigation was launched after agents came to believe several gun dealers were operating without federal firearms dealer's licenses -- required for anyone "engaging in the business" of firearms dealing -- and selling large quantities of guns as "private sellers."
Three of the suspects targeted were unperturbed when told that the guns they were selling were being directed to convicted criminals, the special agent told the court. No mention was made as to whether similar questions were put to Alloway, the retired police officer.
Gun owners are allowed to sell pieces of their private collections without a federal license. But, the ATF agent told the court, federal law requires that anyone attempting to trade in guns primarily for profit or as their livelihood is required to obtain a federal firearms license and report sales to the ATF.
Outlining the allegations against one of the suspects, a Belfair man, the special agent noted the man had purchased 52 pistols in six months. Fifty of the weapons had been bought from a single gun dealer. Investigators contend the man bought six Derringer-style pistols on June 19, 2009, then attempted to sell them the following day at a Centralia gun show.
That man introduced an undercover ATF agent to a second suspect, a Bremerton man whose home was also raided in November. The second man, who said he attends 42 gun shows a year, gave an undercover agent his phone number and told him to call if there was anything specific he was looking for.
"I buy them and then sell them," the Bremerton man allegedly told ATF agents. "It's all about the money." The Belfair man said he used money he made at gun shows to supplement his disability payments, according to the search warrant affidavit. He told the ATF agent he preferred private sales because "they did not require any paperwork."
At a May 22 gun show in Centralia, one undercover agent told the Bremerton man he'd resold a gun he'd purchased to a motorcycle gang member, and that he planned to resell a gun he'd just purchased to the same gang member, according to the statements to the court.
Per the ATF agent's account, the gun dealer was unconcerned.
"(The undercover agent) said that he needed to acquire more firearms because of the requests he was getting from the (Outlaw Motorcycle) Club and asked (the Bremerton man) if he would fill the orders for firearms," the special agent told the court. "(He) replied that it would depend on what they wanted and what was available."
The Bremerton man allegedly went on to explain that he bought most of his handguns from private sellers, without reporting the purchases to state authorities. He said the highest profit margin was on cheap pistols, which he could buy for less than $100 and resell for more than double the price.
During an Aug. 7 gun show, an undercover agent stood by as the Belfair man took a call on his cell phone. According to the search warrant affidavit, the Belfair man hung up and said he'd just received a call from the Lakewood police saying they'd recovered a gun he'd sold.
An ATF agent later confirmed that the gun's owner was a convicted felon and domestic violence assault suspect. Investigators also believe the Bremerton man sold a gun to a man who was shot by police while armed in January.
Feds: Cop re-routed legit sales to boost profits
According to the affidavit, ATF agents began investigating Alloway in July 2009, after he was contacted by an undercover agent at a Centralia gun show.
Alloway -- who is not alleged to have conspired with the other suspects -- and a Shelton police officer had previously formed a gun-dealing business dubbed Renegade Guns and Loans, the ATF special agent told the court.
The men had acquired a federal firearms license through the business, which enabled Alloway to purchase guns at wholesale prices for personal use, the agent continued. Federal law, though, prohibits licensees from reselling guns bought for personal use within a year of the sale.
During a July review, ATF agents allegedly found Alloway had purchased 163 guns from his own business, usually within a day of their being signed over the Renegade Guns. All told, the agent continued, Alloway bought 224 handguns inside of five years from his business and other licensed dealers.
At the Centralia show and others in Puyallup, agents found Alloway selling as a "private seller," the ATF agent told the court. The special agent went on to note that Alloway was often seen selling guns from a booth adjacent to one occupied by his company.
"There was never any paperwork ever filled out during any of ATF's undercover purchases for firearms from Alloway," the special agent told the court.
"Alloway has easier access to guns through the (federal firearms license) which has helped him funnel firearms from the shop to his 'private sale' booth at a greater pace," the ATF agent continued.
"Alloway is using the FFL to his advantage â?¦ because of the price margin. â?¦ When the FFL takes in a firearm, they will do so for an amount that will allow them to make a profit when they resell it."
On Tuesday, an ATF spokeswoman would not confirm whether the Roy Alloway targeted in the sting was a Bremerton detective by the same name who also retired in May after a lengthy, and somewhat controversial, career as a narcotics officer. A Bremerton police spokesman did not return a request for comment.
On Nov. 18, ATF agents seized 58 guns from Alloway's Port Orchard home, according to court documents. Also seized was a booklet describing how to convert a semiautomatic AK-47-style rifle to automatic fire.
The same day, agents raiding the Bremerton man's home seized 135 weapons, a homemade silencer and seven items described as "tear gas pen guns," according to court documents. According to the ATF, a search of the Belfair man's home uncovered three ".30 cal. machine guns" of unspecified type, as well as a pistol with its serial number scratched off.
The raids came as federal agents arrested Devenny on allegations that the 68-year-old had a pistol to an ATF informant.
Charges filed against seller of gun that killed Seattle officer
Devenny, like the others who've not been charged, is alleged to have been buying large numbers of handguns from licensed dealers then reselling them through private sales.
Federal prosecutors contend Devenny told ATF investigators that he sold the gun used to kill officer Brenton and wound his partner at a gun show in Puyallup. The sale occurred a week before Christopher Monfort is alleged to have used it to in an unprovoked attack against the police officers.
Devenny was arrested in the unrelated ATF case after agents came to believe he had sold guns to a convicted felon and a domestic violence perpetrator who were legally barred from possessing firearms.
"This is about public safety," U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan said in a statement following Devenny's arrest. "Illegal gun sales are a threat to our police and our communities. "We will continue to prosecute felons who possess guns illegally. And we will prosecute the people who put those guns in their hands."
Having met Devenny at a gun show, an undercover ATF agent went to Devenny's home to buy two handguns in January, according to the criminal complaint.
The agent told Devenny he had a friend who wanted a gun but was told he couldn't buy one because of a domestic violence conviction, the complaint continued. Devenny allegedly offered that the undercover agent's friend could instead "buy (a gun) from somebody like me that don't give a (expletive)."
"What I don't know I don't care about," Devenny told the undercover agent, according to the criminal complaint. "It's don't ask don't tell. If I don't know then there's nothing wrong with it."
According to the complaint, Devenny went on to admit that he sold the weapon used to kill "that cop and wounded that -- that lady cop."
