Posted on 04/04/2006 10:27:59 AM PDT by Born Conservative
WILKES-BARRE – A handgun belonging to the Luzerne County Sheriff’s Department that had been reported stolen was recovered Sunday from the vehicle of a deputy sheriff who had mistakenly reported the vehicle stolen, Sheriff Barry Stankus said.
Patrick Fina, 22, had reported his 2005 Volkswagen Golf, which contained his a 9 mm Sig Sauer service weapon, was stolen from the area of East Jackson and North Main streets at around 3:41 a.m. Sunday, according to a press release issued by city police.
On Monday, Stankus said Fina made the report after he was unable to locate his car where he believed he had parked it. City police later located the vehicle, and Fina realized he had been mistaken regarding the location he had left the vehicle, Stankus said.
“He returned to where he felt he parked the vehicle and it wasn’t there. He was under the impression someone stole it. Wilkes-Barre police were contacted and he subsequently realized it was parked elsewhere,” Stankus said.
Police Chief Gerry Dessoye said the car was located in the 100 block of North Washington Street, about a block away from where Fina had reported it was stolen. Dessoye said he had no further information about the circumstances of the incident.
Stankus said it is common for deputy sheriffs to carry their department-issued weapons in their private vehicles so that they can respond to an emergency situation, if needed. He said Fina’s weapon was in a secure location in the vehicle. City police recovered the handgun and turned it over to the sheriff’s department Sunday night.
Stankus could provide no explanation as to why Fina was mistaken regarding the vehicle’s location.
“Whether it was confusion or an oversight, all I know is everything was looked into and investigated and it was determined the vehicle was not stolen,” Stankus said.
Fina could not be reached for comment Monday. Stankus said he is currently in training for the sheriff’s department being held at an area university.
Clouseau strikes again.
He will never live this down. What nicknames might his comrads assign to him for the rest of his career?
Dude? (As in Dude, where's my car)
Let's see - he couldn't find his car at 3:41 on a Sunday morning and it was parked only a block away.
I can think of three possible explanations: Booze, booze and booze.
Obviously he needed GPS to navigate back to his parking space.Not that I should talk; my wife and I got confused and spent an hour looking for our car in the wrong section of the mall lot last December.
Talk about having a senior moment! Poor guy. I bet you all his colleagues will be riding him for years about this.
I wonder if he left his bullet in the car with the gun. Could be dangerous. Maybe someone moved the bar while he was inside drinking and he thought he'd lost his car.
If he is this stupid he should not be a cop....affirmative action?
If he is not stupid then they better give him a drug test asap.
imo
Senior moment? He's 22. Read between the lines.
Are you sure it wasn't alcohol?
On a side note, your pistol is no good for you in your car if you aint with it Pat
That's exactly what I was thinking. There isn't much the department could do to him that would be worse than what his coworkers will do.
Career Prediction:
I think its highly unlikely that this Deputy will make it to Detective.
Yeah, but can you take it into a bar if you're off duty?
[Not that I should talk; my wife and I got confused and spent an hour looking for our car in the wrong section of the mall lot last December.]
I lost my pickup truck in college. In fact, I didn't even realize I had lost it for almost a week. I had to use my roomate's bike to go look for it. I use to let friends and roomates borrow it. At first I thought it stolen and realized no one would steal that junk. Then I started calling to see who I last lent it to. Then I remembered driving it to class and parking in a neighborhood on one particularly cold morning but could not remember where.
Talk about stupid?
I think it's highly likely that if YOUR car is ever stolen, this doofus will be the one taking your report!
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