A local defense attorney filed a court motion Friday asking that
his client’s property, confiscated during a raid of the man’s
ordnance company three months ago, be returned because it was
seized illegally with a search warrant obtained by a district
attorney investigator claiming to be a cop.
Hollister – A local defense attorney filed a court motion Friday asking that his client’s property, confiscated during a raid of the man’s ordnance company three months ago, be returned because it was seized illegally with a search warrant obtained by a district attorney investigator claiming to be a cop.
Attorney Greg LaForge claims his client, Mike Keith, owner of local ordnance manufacturing company MK Ballistic Systems, had permits for the shotgun and several explosive devices that were seized in a raid last November by federal agents.
A search warrant for the raid was procured by investigator Andy Simpson, but Simpson’s qualifications have now come into question after San Benito County Counsel Claude Biddle determined he was not qualified to work as an investigator, nor was he certified by the Commission of Peace Officer Standards and Training to act as a police officer.
“My client’s rights were violated,” LaForge said Monday. “If there was ever an unreasonable search and seizure it was in this case – never have I seen anything like this as a prosecutor or defense attorney.”
A hearing was scheduled on the motion for last Friday, but District Attorney John Sarsfield asked that it be postponed until March 10. Sarsfield said he was sure that the seized property wouldn’t have to be returned because the warrant will hold up in court.
“We’re entitled to 16 court days notice and that is what we’ve asked for,” Sarsfield said. “We’re going to address his motion and I’m confident that we’ll be successful.”
Besides weapons, the seized property includes dozens of soil samples, employee and personnel records and a police baton that fires 12-gauge bean bags. The explosive devices were destroyed on site during the raid.
“I want everything that they took – they had no right to take anything,” LaForge said. “There is no crime here.”
Officials from Sarsfield’s office were joined by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Department of Toxic Substance Control, the Hollister-Gilroy California Highway Patrol and the Monterey County Sheriff’s Department in serving the search warrant on the company last November.
No arrests have been made and no charges have been filed.
The raid was part of a wider crackdown on environmental polluters, and soil samples were taken to test for the presence of chemical contamination.
However, LaForge claims the search warrant was obtained illegally because Simpson declared, under penalty of perjury, that he was a police officer when he signed the warrant.
But Sarsfield believes Simpson is qualified and that the search warrant will hold up in court.
“It’s a complicated area of the law. We have asked for an advisory opinion from the Attorney General’s Office, but we believe that we’re correct,” he said.
Sarsfield said that LaForge was overly-confident after successfully securing the return of another one of his client’s medical marijuana in January after it had been confiscated by the California Highway Patrol.
But LaForge said the issue at hand had nothing to do with medical marijuana.
“I’m confident that we’re going to win and my client will get his illegally-seized property back,” LaForge said. “This has no bearing on a medicinal marijuana case.”
Brett Rowland covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or [email protected].
