By Dean Weingarten
Arizona – -(Ammoland.com)-A California family has finally had their illegally seized firearms and ammunition returned after over a year in the courts. The collection has an estimated value of millions of dollars. It consisted of 541 rifles, pistols, and shotguns, and over 100,000 rounds of ammunition. 10 of the rifles were registered “assault weapons” under California law. One was a bolt action .50 caliber. Albert Sheakalee has had a federal firearms license since the early 1990’s.
Sheakalee was mistakenly included on the California Armed & Prohibited Persons System (APPS) because of seeking treatment for high stress during the summer of 2015. He is 60 years old. Sheakalee is a Christian refugee who fled Iran in the 1970’s after the Ayatollah took over the country. He has never had problems with the police and has no criminal record. He prospered in America, earned a degree in accounting, and worked his way up to become budget director of the local hospital’s health care department.
Sheakalee says that he had no idea that he was on the APPS list until the raid occurred. His lawyer, Mark Coleman says postal records show he was notified nearly two weeks after the raid. From the sacbee.com:
However, Coleman said, postal records indicate the letter was not delivered until Nov. 25, 2015, 13 days after Sheakalee was arrested for possessing the weapons. No charges were filed against Sheakalee by the Fresno County District Attorney.
On 12 July, 2016, Sheakalee was notified that all charges against him were resolved. No charges were ever actually filed against him. Sheakalee had to go to court to have the million plus dollars worth of firearms and ammunition returned.
All of Sheakalee’s firearms were legal. Sheakalee had gone to considerable effort to insure that he met the byzantine requirements of California firearms law. The firearms were locked in safes, in a locked room that had an alarm system. The firearms could have been transferred to another dealer or somewhere else for safekeeping while the legal issues were resolved.
So why didn’t the California DOJ call Albert Sheakalee to determine what was going on? Sheakalee was a well respected member of the community who had lived there for many years. He had become prosperous through hard work and frugality. He had a federal firearms license for decades.
Sheakalee’s lawyer, Mark Coleman, says that the reason is politics. Kamala Harris was running for Senator in California at the time. From fresnobee.com:
And it’s because Harris wants to promote her image among anti-gun supporters at Sheakalee’s expense, the lawyer said.
“It’s politics. She wants to be senator,” he said.
But Harris’ press secretary, Kristin Ford, said, “A case of this magnitude requires the public be notified, as a matter of transparency and trust.”
A case of what magnitude? No criminals were involved. A federal firearms dealer had his inventory and collection confiscated because of a mistake in the very database Kamala Harris was touting as a great crime fighting tool.
If the case had been investigated and reported on truthfully, it would have been a black eye for Kamala Harris, an embarrassment. Instead, it was touted as a great success and may have contributed to her winning the Senate seat.
The Sheakalee family eventually had their property returned, at great expense in time, treasure, and trauma. Kamala Harris won the Senate race, and is now a U.S. Senator.
©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
About Dean Weingarten;
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of constitutional carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and recently retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
My mothers family is from Spain and her first language was Spanish. My father was a gringo and therefore WE spoke English in the home. The nice thing about being in the US is the freedom we have and many of us did our part to preserve it. My father, brother and I survived but many of our family members did not come home plus we are well represented on that black wall in D C. I welcome comments from the readers from other countries. We may not be able to “comprehend” their lingo but they support the cause. Jose… Read more »
I appreciate all the posts to this site that are from our fellow firearms enthusiasts who are outside of the USA.
I hope the Sheakalee family takes it’s guns, it’s money, and it’s business out from behind the Orange Curtain and moves to a more free State.
Just a fine example of what gun registration can lead to…confiscation.
GOVERNMENT….The DISEASE masquerading as the CURE. I hope the senator chokes on a chicken wing at a restaurant.
100% Correct Mark….a million upvotes. America will never see a cure until the American people start seeing the state (I use state for GOVERNMENT as I find it more descriptive for the issue we face) for the fundamentally anti-social institution that it is. In effect, the state (government, regardless of whether it’s federal or California) has conjured up an unconstitutional database that is administered in a wholly unconstitutional manner…all in an attempt to circumvent the 4th amendment. The state is a parasite on the American people, and we all know that you can’t cut a deal with a parasite.
@Bob M, Yes, but the federal government was not designed to be (and the states are supposed to mirror the federal pattern, more or less). Somewhere in history, our federal and state governments have forgotten that their purpose is to safeguard the civil rights of the people. Now, our various governments, bureaucrats, politicians, and judges have come to believe that their duty is to control people. I suppose, to some extent it is the peoples’ fault for making poor decisions with their freedom, failing to monitor effectively, and demanding guaranteed outcomes rather than demanding conformation to founding principles. Time to… Read more »
that beginning you are loooking for came along with that former railroad company lawyer from Illinois…. bamfoozled enough folk to get elected president… then tossed out the Constitution. Not only did he not free one slave, as he is commonly thought to have done, he usurped many powers not granted FedGov in the Constitution when he invaded a sovereing foreign nation with no cause and no formal declaration of war. He staged a false flag operation as a rallying cry, then went to war on his own. HE started the march toward the tyranny we now have upon us, far… Read more »
True enough.
Right on the money about the” War of Northern Aggression”.
@RamR, I don’t think that any county prosecutor is going to file charges against the Cal DOJ. Texas is calling.
in all cases where a state is a party (this wonld be one) it is not up to a county prosecutor to file or press. That goes to the Federal court system, directly. State courts cannot sit in judgement of a case in which they are a party. Something about bias, or confllict of interest. Read your Constitution.. Art 3 Sec 2 spells it out.
@Tionico, Oh yeah, I forgot about removal. Even if a county prosecutor filed charges agains Cal DOJ, the case would be removed to fed ct.
No charges ever filed, armed agents of the government force their way into a citizens home, arrest him and confiscate his property (millions in this case) and then publicize that in victory…
Thanks Kommiefornia for removing honest due process and nullifying the 4th Amendment for political gain and damn the citizen… This ends justifies the means leftist mindset needs a measure of accountability.
I really hate this socialist state
YO CREO QUE ESTAMOS FRENTE A UN CASO PARECIDO AL DEL SEÑOR QUE COMPRANDO UN TERRENO PRETENDE TENER UN TERRITORIO,SE ENTIENDE. UNA COSA ES COMPRAR Y TENER ARMAS,Y OTRA MUY DISTINTA CREO YO POR LO MENOS,ES COMPRAR ARMAS PARA DOTAR A UN EJERCITO CHICO.DESEARÍA SABER COMO SE DEBE ENTENDER ESTO.-
Son derechos garantizado por la Constitución. No dice cuantas armas uno puede tener, so no importa si tenía 1 o 100, el esta en su derechos para tenerla. Tambien todo estaba legal, especialmente en California que tienes unas de las restricciones mas estúpidas en el país. Lo que trataron es hacer un ejemplo de el, pero le salio el tiro por la culata.
He was win his rights to own them and didn’t matter the quantity. So he should she the state, city, and add the senator to the list.
What?
This is AMERICA we speak English here Thank You very much !!!.
@Robert Workman, But Sr. Pedrace is in Argentina. His opinion is kind of important because he shows us what a non-media type, non-government type person thinks in South America. My Spanish is mostly military and not conversational, so I don’t know all of his verbs, but I usually get the gist of his conservative comments.
Mr Workman, sorry to say but America was built on the backs of many immigrants. When America was being built, they spoke different languages. Yes English is the official Language BUT we are still in a Democratic Country. We have the right and privilege to speak any language we chose. I am not Pro or Con on Immigration, so don’t start with other issues. Besides these gentlemen were asking questions on another very important issue that is close to the hearts of many Americans. Not on language issues. Remember want your parents taught you, If you have nothing Nice to… Read more »
It AINT THAT HARD to go to GOOGLE TRANSLATE and get the Spanish translated to English. The writer should do that as a courtesy to readers before posting.
Sorry, Mr. Jesse Vasquez, the United States HAS NO OFFICIAL LANGUAGE!
Thank you, even better. I know some states like Arizona has an official language, Thank you.
BJI, true there is no official language, but if you want to be understood, you will usually need to be speaking or writing English. I had 7 years of Spanish between high school and college, but now 35+ years later, and rarely ever needing or using it, I admittedly am quite rusty. Although in the past several years I have learned a few curses from the Spanish-speaking immigrants I have heard speak it around me thinking that the gringo couldn’t understand them. I am not saying they were talking about me, just that they were speaking Spanish because they thought… Read more »
y’all argue away and have fun but there is no official language in the united states.
Jerry, no one is arguing that point. We all acknowledge that, and that was not what this thread was about.
our beloved First Article of Ammendment does not specify in what language we are free to speak/write/publish. Both of these men have the same right to comment here as do you and I. If you can’t/won’t reas spanich, fine. Move along to one you do understand. I happen to understand, and appreciate, the views and comments of both of these men. Would we had a greater percentage of AMERICANS who had as good a comprehension of our rights as these two do, and in any language. Rights are not bound by language, as they are God-given and canot be taken… Read more »
Uncle Nico, this is true, but those two posters clearly can read English, and the site is in English, so if they expect to be understood, they should post in English.
Now speaking to the content of the first poster’s message, he lacked context in his first sentence, and lacked complete thought in his second.
Jose’s post made sense and was well-written. Peace appears to have been drunk or on drugs when he wrote his comment. He does tend to write awkwardly, even when he is lucid, but his points are usually clear – not this time.
Dang auto-correct, *Pedace*
Tionico,
Good point and very well said.
I too can read and write both languages, I am fortunate my parents pushed me to learn both languages. I was born in the US, my father was a native and my mother was born in Mex., so we all spoke both English & Spanish.
Glad I can speak both.
Thank you for your input.
Another case of injustice! The Government errored again…. send the notifications letter by return receipt! Check, check, check before you do something that’s going cause harm to citizens! Hope he sues the state of CA ! He’ll win that I’m sure!
dude should sue for damages and malicious prosecution.
Agreed! Hit the USEFUL IDIOTS where it hurts, in the pocket. Sue for malicious prosecution, loss of work, emotional trauma, disruption of One’s life style Lawyer fees, Court fees, ETC..
He wasn’t prosecuted. He was persecuted, and people in California hate gun owners, so he won’t get anywhere with a lawsuit.