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Hemet: Marine convicted of smuggling rifle from Saddam palace (AK-47 stolen from Saddam's palace)
The Press Enterprise ^ | July 3, 2012 | JOHN ASBURY

Posted on 07/03/2012 9:21:12 PM PDT by DogByte6RER

Hemet: Marine convicted of smuggling rifle from Saddam palace

Saddam's plundered AK-47 fromI Iraq - An AK-47 seized from Saddam Hussein’s Royal Guard, belonging to Twentynine Palms Marine Joel Cleve Miller.

Federal prosecutors said former Staff Sgt. Joel Cleve Miller, 40, was found guilty of possession of an illegal chrome AK-47 that he smuggled back from Iraq during a 14-month tour in 2005.

When he returned to his home in Hemet, he bragged to several friends that he smuggled the gun back after it once belonged to Saddam Hussein’s Royal Guard.

The U.S. Marine Corps discharged Miller in December 2011 after 20 years in the military for approving false travel claims and stealing from the U.S. Government.

Miller was indicted by a Riverside Grand Jury in 2010 of three charges of illegal possession of a machine gun. A federal jury in Riverside last week acquitted him of possession of another gun.

He could face up to 10 years in federal prison. He is set be sentenced Sept. 27 by Riverside federal Judge Virginia A. Philips.

The case was part of an investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service search for illegal automatic weapons in the United States.

“This case sends a strong message that we will continue to investigate those who illegally possess and distribute dangerous weapons such as machine guns,” NCIS Acting Supervisory Special Agent Albert Nelson stated. “We will continue our efforts to remove these weapons form (sic) the streets where they put innocent lives at risk.”


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; US: California; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: ak47; automaticweapons; banglist; federalprison; feds; gunnerpalace; hemet; iraq; machinegun; marinecorp; ncis; oifveterans; plunder; saddamhussein; shinytoyguns; souvenir; spoilsofwar; usmc; wartrophy
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I have to admit ... I admire this shiny chrome finished AK 47 ... it's hypnotizing
1 posted on 07/03/2012 9:21:25 PM PDT by DogByte6RER
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Photobucket
2 posted on 07/03/2012 9:21:57 PM PDT by DogByte6RER ("Loose lips sink ships")
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To: DogByte6RER

It would be interesting to know who is going to get that thing. Somebody will. It will just “disappear”.


3 posted on 07/03/2012 9:26:06 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (ObamaCare is only the beginning. It's all downhill from here.)
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To: DogByte6RER

Homer screwed up hard.


4 posted on 07/03/2012 9:27:08 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: DogByte6RER

Spoils of war. Something like that should probably be in a museum.

WWI & WWII soldiers brought back all kinds of stuff. No big deal.


5 posted on 07/03/2012 9:29:50 PM PDT by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
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To: DogByte6RER

America came into existence thanks to privately owned cannon and armed private vessels. It is time to return to those eternal principles recently validated by SOCTUS when it recognized the Second Amendment as recognizing a preexisting Natural Law.

I’d like the government to get out of the business of regulating what weapons an American may own.


6 posted on 07/03/2012 9:31:03 PM PDT by GladesGuru (In a society predicated upon freedom, it is necessary to examine principles."...the public interest)
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To: DogByte6RER
Gold Al Kadisha


7 posted on 07/03/2012 9:31:57 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: DogByte6RER
Whatever happened to the concept of "spoils of war"?

Oh wait, that wasn't a "war".

8 posted on 07/03/2012 9:35:13 PM PDT by elkfersupper ( Member of the Original Defiant Class)
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To: smokingfrog
They changed the rules on war spoils after WWII. He might have gotten a way with a Tokarev pistol in Korea or Vietnam.

They are all up his case because this is full auto, but they probably would have burned him for a Tariq pistol nowadays


9 posted on 07/03/2012 9:37:12 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: DogByte6RER

During the Great War, or even WW2, this would have been totally legit to possess.

Perhaps the fact that this weapon could be fully automatic and not the crippled “civilian version” could have been what motivated the arrest.

Hemet is in CA after all, correct?


10 posted on 07/03/2012 9:37:19 PM PDT by James C. Bennett (An Australian.)
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To: elkfersupper

To the victorious king go the spoils I guess


11 posted on 07/03/2012 9:38:00 PM PDT by raccoonnookkeeper (I keep raccoons in a nook!)
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To: James C. Bennett

Yep ...

http://www.cityofhemet.org/

About a 20 minute drive away from me.


12 posted on 07/03/2012 9:39:57 PM PDT by DogByte6RER ("Loose lips sink ships")
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To: DogByte6RER

This guy, who spent 20 years serving this country in the Marine Corps could go to prison for 10 years for bringing home one little gun!!!!! Yet Holder orders that thousands of guns walk across the border to Mexican terrorists and he will get probably a slap on the wrist (if even that). America has truely turned the righteous into the outlaws and the outlaws into the rulers. It’s time for a revolution (but I wont hold my breath).


13 posted on 07/03/2012 9:41:22 PM PDT by ScubieNuc (When there is no justice in the laws, justice is left to the outlaws.)
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To: DogByte6RER

Holder wants to send it to Mexico. I say let the guy go, thank him for his service, give the gun to the NRA museum.


14 posted on 07/03/2012 9:42:10 PM PDT by MrKatykelly
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To: James C. Bennett
Hemet is in CA after all, correct?

Correct.

The case was part of an investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service

And CA is in the United States. So it's related to all those crazy liberal nuts in the U.S. and their liberal anti-gun laws.

15 posted on 07/03/2012 9:49:29 PM PDT by ElkGroveDan (My tagline is in the shop.)
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To: James C. Bennett
Hemet is in CA after all, correct?

Correct.

The case was part of an investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service

And CA is in the United States. So it's related to all those crazy liberal nuts in the U.S. and their liberal anti-gun laws.

16 posted on 07/03/2012 9:49:49 PM PDT by ElkGroveDan (My tagline is in the shop.)
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To: smokingfrog

We also were allowed to from Viet Nam, with the right paper work.


17 posted on 07/03/2012 9:49:57 PM PDT by easternsky
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To: MrKatykelly

He was enlisted (completely and conveniently expendable).

He screwed the pooch big time.

An example will be made in politically expedient time.


18 posted on 07/03/2012 9:51:26 PM PDT by Delta 21 (Oh Crap !! Did I say that out loud ??!??)
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To: ScubieNuc

He was discharged by the Marines for making false claims so this may not be such a clear cut travesty.


19 posted on 07/03/2012 9:53:20 PM PDT by ari-freedom
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To: easternsky
before Gun Control Act of 1968
20 posted on 07/03/2012 9:55:06 PM PDT by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
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