A San Pablo man described as being obsessed with weapons and "tools of warfare" has been arrested in connection with the theft of rifles and shotguns from Contra Costa County sheriff's and California Highway Patrol cruisers, authorities said Tuesday.


Daniel William Vess, 20, was being held without bail at county jail in Martinez on suspicion of burglary, possession of stolen property, possession of an assault weapon and a probation violation, said sheriff's Capt. Dan Terry.

Vess is suspected of breaking into several CHP cruisers at the agency's office at 5001 Blum St. in Martinez on Dec. 16 and making off with an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle and ammunition.

He is also accused of breaking into sheriff's cruisers in a locked parking lot at 1980 Muir Road in Martinez and stealing three semiautomatic rifles and two shotguns late Jan. 5 or early Jan. 6. In addition, he is suspected in a break-in around the same time at the sheriff's Bay Station at 5555 Giant Highway in Richmond, where someone stole a shotgun from a cruiser.

In all the break-ins the thieves used tools to defeat the locking mechanisms on the cruisers, Terry said.

Authorities arrested Vess on Tuesday and found an AR-15 in his home in the Montalvin Manor neighborhood in an unincorporated area near San Pablo, Terry said. The rifle had been stolen in one of the sheriff's burglaries, authorities said.

Also found at the home were burglary tools and a shotgun and a rifle that did not belong to law enforcement, as well as handcuffs, ballistic vests and helmets, including one that was pockmarked with bullet holes, authorities said.

"There's no question in my mind that this guy was a severe public safety threat," Terry said. "He was acting out. He was obsessed with firearms. He was obsessed with tools of warfare."




Sooooo police use tools of warfare?. :gossip:

 

Tools of warfare...


Crazy that the dude is only 20! Now he's f'ed and wont be seeing freedom for a loooooong time.


Tisk tisk!

 

Good, he deserves it, take guns from a police car.

 

tell me it's not that easy to take weapons out of police vehicles... and they actually leave them in the car overnight? Crazy stuff!

 

you really think that someone with ***** of steel enough to rob from police cars will have a hard time in prison?

lol

 

I think the stealing was more a result of delusional thinking, rather than being super hard core.

 

I still think that the sherriff called the guns tools of warfare is kinda funny. I guess no one told him that 3/4 of guns and the other 1/4 belonged to his dept and the chp..

 

So it's protection for on the job for officers and tools of warfare/terrorist weapons when it's someone that's bad. Damn I love simple minded Americans twisting words for their own use.

Kinda like how a rule is ok with you when you aren't the culprit, but when you get caught you want to bend/break the rule =P