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GRANTS PASS Former police volunteer gets 18 months for stealing guns Comment By Melissa McRobbie Grants Pass Daily Courier MailTribune.com By Melissa McRobbie Grants Pass Daily Courier Posted Oct. 2, 2015 at 3:20 PM By Melissa McRobbie Grants Pass Daily Courier Posted Oct. 2, 2015 at 3:20 PM » Social News A former Grants Pass police volunteer who stole 43 guns from police evidence — keeping some and giving away others to family members and friends — lost a bid for probation Tuesday and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Bearded, gray-haired and wearing a white T-shirt and jeans, 74-year-old Lee Darrow told the small crowd in court Tuesday morning that he was sorry. "I just want to apologize and ask for forgiveness from my family and friends … I just hope you have mercy on me," he said to Josephine County Circuit Court Judge Lindi Baker. The audience included police Chief Bill Landis and other officers; Oregon State Police personnel; Sheriff Dave Daniel; and Darrow's wife, Marie Darrow. Marie Darrow was a part-time employee with the Grants Pass Department of Public Safety when her husband came on as a volunteer in March 2011. The department was considering auctioning off confiscated guns that were slated for destruction, and needed help researching the weapons' market value. "Lee was perfect for the job," Dan Runyon, a former detective who now works part time in evidence, testified Tuesday. "Lee is a jack of all trades. He knows guns." Darrow was also a retired city firefighter and had helped the department with handiwork and other tasks over the years. When he was brought on as an evidence volunteer, he was given access to one of the department's evidence rooms and began making his way through bins of guns, many of which had been sitting there for years. Some were left over from closed cases and some were unclaimed for other reasons. Darrow researched the guns' value for a couple of years until August 2013, when the volunteer position was eliminated. The first sign that something was wrong was the following January, when Grants Pass police property specialist Paul Schilens could not find a gun associated with a closed case. Schilens went to grab it from the shelf where records indicated it was stored. It wasn't there. "Then I got going through my mind, 'Where is this firearm?' " he said. He thought there had been some sort of record-keeping error, and over the next few months he continued to look for the missing gun in his free time. Halfway through 2014, he found the box the gun was supposed to be in — but there was still no sign of the weapon. Later in the year, Landis was officially appointed as police chief, prompting a routine internal audit of the Department of Public Safety. The audit included an inspection of evidence facilities. As Schilens assisted with the audit, a few more guns appeared to be missing. He had a couple of officers go through the "holding bins," which contained the guns earmarked for destruction, and cross-reference what was supposed to be there against what was actually there. "That's when we discovered 29, at that time, firearms were missing," he said. OSP stepped in at the request of the agency and determined that 43 guns were missing, which eventually led Detective Deanna Harris-Powers to interview Darrow and his wife at their Grants Pass home in March. After an initial interview, in which Darrow made no admissions, Harris-Powers asked if she could look inside the couple's safe. Marie Darrow readily agreed, but Lee Darrow seemed hesitant, which the detective said was a red flag. He eventually agreed, and Harris-Powers found some of the stolen guns in the safe. Others were found elsewhere in the home. "I recovered a total of 13 firearms from Lee Darrow's house on that particular day," Powers-Harris said. Thirteen more were found at a friend's home in Lakeside, north of Coos Bay. Over the weeks that followed, Marie Darrow called Powers-Harris several times as she learned about more guns that had been given to family members. One gun was given to Lee Darrow's granddaughter. As the guns began coming back to the department, Harris-Powers learned that Darrow had logged some of the weapons as having been destroyed — that's how police overlooked them in their initial tally of the missing guns. After his first OSP interview, Lee Darrow confessed to the thefts, and to destroying the gun records. All but two guns were recovered. "He knew that the guns were to be either destroyed or auctioned, and he eventually admitted that he took the paper files for the guns and ended up burning those in his wood stove," Harris-Powers said. Turner asked Harris-Powers if Darrow seemed remorseful when he confessed. "I don't really know how to answer that," she replied. "At one point, I think he implied that it was the city's fault that he was able to take the guns out of the facility." Since discovering the thefts, police have switched from a sign-in sheet to an electronic card-reader system to track who enters the evidence rooms. Security cameras have been added. Darrow pleaded guilty earlier this month to four felony counts of first-degree theft and one misdemeanor count of tampering with public records. Turner argued for the 18-month sentence Tuesday, saying Darrow stole repeatedly over a more than two-year period, and risked the public's trust in the police department. "The defendant comes into this without a record," she said. "However, the state's position is that the violation of trust in this case is atrocious." As Turner spoke, Darrow sat with his arms crossed, shaking his head at times. His defense attorney, Chris Mecca, argued for probation, saying Darrow didn't mean to harm the department. He presented a note from Darrow's doctor and implied prison would be difficult for Darrow because of his poor health. In the end, Baker went with the state's recommendation of a year and a half in prison and ordered Darrow to pay $2,659.60 in restitution to the city of Grants Pass. Baker told Darrow he took advantage of the trust bestowed upon him as a police volunteer. "In doing that, you have upset this cycle of trust that everyone in the criminal justice system must rely on," she said. The police department has still not auctioned off any of its confiscated guns, and the idea is on hold for now. Volunteers are no longer allowed to work in the evidence rooms. After being sentenced, Darrow was remanded into custody. He took off his watch so the bailiff could handcuff him, and he was led out of the courtroom. Marie Darrow, who worked for the department for years, including as communications supervisor, received hugs from police officers at the end of the hearing. She declined to comment outside of court, other than to say she was stunned when the stolen guns turned up in the safe at her home. By Melissa McRobbie Grants Pass Daily Courier MailTribune.com By Melissa McRobbie Grants Pass Daily Courier Posted Oct. 2, 2015 at 3:20 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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