Sheriff surprised at amount of guns
12:53 AM PDT on Wednesday, May 12, 2004
By SHARON McNARY / The Press-Enterprise
San Bernardino County Sheriff Gary Penrod said Tuesday that he believes former Sheriff Floyd Tidwell did not profit from selling any of the 523 guns he admits taking from the department's property locker.
"I know Floyd. He would never do that, Penrod said. "I believe that 100 percent."
In his first public statements since the former sheriff pleaded guilty Monday to four counts of concealing stolen property, Penrod recalled his friendship with Tidwell and said he had not known that the man was taking guns when he was the sheriff. Evidence and property are now carefully monitored, Penrod added.
Former San Bernardino County Sheriff Floyd Tidwell pleaded guilty Monday to four counts of concealing stolen property.
Tidwell received no special treatment from the sheriff's deputies or prosecutors handling the case, Penrod said. "Floyd's going to have to pay his dues and get on down the road," he added.
Tidwell must pay a $10,000 fine and help investigators find nearly 500 still-missing guns. If his cooperation is sufficient, the four felonies may be reduced to misdemeanors.
Assistant District Attorney Mike Risley said that though investigators have not yet questioned Tidwell in detail about the guns' whereabouts, they are confident that Tidwell did not sell them for profit.
Tidwell's weapons habit was known to deputies working in the property room and to higher-ranking officials, according to a district attorney's memo. However, Penrod said he was unaware of it.
"I was out of the loop in those days," said Penrod, who had been assigned to desert posts during Tidwell's years as sheriff, 1983 to 1991.
"I don't recall any rumors about that back in those days," he said.
The two men became friends after Tidwell retired.
After Tidwell left office in 1991, his successor, Dick Williams, sent letters seeking the return of Tidwell-distributed guns.
San Bernardino County Sheriff Gary Penrod doesn't believe former Sheriff Floyd Tidwell profited from the guns Tidwell admitted having. "Floyd's going to have to pay his dues and get on down the road," Penrod said.
People "who had been given guns by Floyd were sent letters requesting that they turn them in," Penrod said.
He did not know how many guns were returned.
Penrod said he had been surprised when he learned of the number of weapons that Tidwell had taken.
"I knew that he had guns that he had taken to the range," Penrod said, but he was not aware that Tidwell had a large personal gun collection.
Penrod, sheriff since 1995, said computerized and bar-coded scan tags have replaced file boxes of 3-by-5 index cards that held the sheriff's property inventory.
A court order signed by a judge is required before a weapon can be taken out. Weapons are not sold, he said.
"We don't auction off guns; we just melt them all down," so that they don't return to public circulation, Penrod said.
"I got a little heat from people" for not selling sporting rifles and other legal weapons to raise money for sheriffs' programs.
Tidwell, as part of his plea agreement, will work with the Sheriff's Department to track the weapons.
Part of Tidwell's plea agreement obligates the district attorney to refrain from prosecuting the people who cooperate with Tidwell and the sheriff's gun-recovery investigation.