Alleged gun thief arrested

"It's a combination of good old detective work and the guns getting recovered by other departments," said ATF spokeswoman Marti McKee.

On Aug. 25, the ATF was notified by the Millbrae Police Department of the theft of 127 guns from Annie's Attic storage facility. The guns were initially reported missing to Millbrae police on Aug. 19 by Ken Doolittle, the federally licensed gun broker from Aptos who rented the storage locker for a client.

The arrest brings ATF agents closer to locating the rest of the guns, which are mostly unaccounted for. However, the guns are most likely to show up in crimes before they are located by agents.

The remaining guns "are of grave concern" to the ATF.

"We are following many leads to track down and recover these firearms," Special Agent in Charge John Torres said in a press release yesterday.

Gates rented a storage locker at Annie's Attic between Jan. 24, 2002 and September 2002. His name raised red flags with ATF special agents because he was arrested on Feb. 2, 2003 for possession of a firearm in San Mateo. When agents checked the report, they noticed the gun's description matched one on the inventory list proved by Doolittle, according to an affidavit filed in United States District Court Wednesday.

The gun was missing a serial number, but was positively identified by the gun's owner, according to the affidavit.

On Sept. 21, ATF agents, San Mateo police officers and a San Mateo County adult probation officer searched Gates apartment, at the San Mateo Motel on Bayshore Boulevard.

Gates submitted to an interview without a lawyer and told agents he and another person committed thefts in the storage facility while he rented space there. At one point, Gates was alone and "picking locks" when he found the cache of guns. He stole five guns and returned later with a friend to take the rest, according to the affidavit.

They borrowed gloves from a friend at a San Francisco fire station and purchased identical locks at a Walgreens drug store in the city. They used bolt cutters to remove the locks, took the guns and replaced the locks with the new ones.

They stored the guns at an abandoned tattoo shop on Ocean Avenue in San Francisco, where his accomplice was living at the time. Gates took 10 to 15 long guns, rifles and shotguns back to his apartment. The rest were later stolen from the Ocean Avenue location, he said.

Of the 127 firearms stolen, 19 have been recovered by police departments and two more appear to be from the same stash. At least five were recovered from a home in the Sunnydale District of San Francisco during a drug bust two weeks ago. One turned up during a raid of a Fresno house of prostitution and another was confiscated during Gates' 2002 arrest. McKee won't comment on the rest of the guns because they are part of other criminal investigations.

However, yesterday's press release mentioned the help of several law enforcement agencies, including California Highway Patrol, San Mateo County Sheriff's Department, San Bruno, Redwood City and South San Francisco police departments.

No other arrests have been made yet. Gates faces up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines.

Dana Yates can be reached by e-mail: dana@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com