Here's the Criminal Complaint: USA v Charles F. Ludington (Ludco)

[NIFT]

There is a lot of speculation on another thread regarding the BATFE raid on Ludco, yesterday.

Here is the "sealed" Criminal Complaint against Charles F. Ludington:

http://www.thestarpress.com/assets/pdf/C7172969412.PDF

It's long, but it lays out the situation with Fred at Ludco.

 

[jsharmon7]

Wow, that's quite a list of violations. I don't know enough about gun store operations to say what the frequency of violations is, but it seems to me to be a lot.

 

[Que]

Wow! That guy doesn't need to be in business.

 

[rimfire_crazed]

Agreed. People can complain all they want about the validity of the investigative techniques, but the bottom line is that he had a list of violations a mile long that triggered the investigation.

 

[Destro]

simply amazing....

 

[Martin Draco]

I wonder how many doors have been knocked on as a result of this???

 

[alan robert]

This will be an interesting trial to watch.

 

[mammynun]

I read till #42 in the descriptions of the violations. If that scenarios is what's proven, he needs to go down. I didn't read any further.

 

[VUPDblue]

He deserves to be put out of business and jailed for that mess.

 

[eldirector]

Hole-E-Cow. That's quite the list. I'm on page 18 and still scrolling. Ouch.....

 

[Dragon]

I too am still reading, and this is difficult to digest. The shear number of violations just goes to show how long it takes to get the ball rolling before the ATF could even make a move to arrest him.

 

[BigGuyinMuncie]

Sounds to me like they got him red handed on several counts. Just another block for the gov to throw into the wall in front of our rights to buy guns.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

Thank you for posting this.

 

[LEaSH]

They've been watching this guy for awhile. They didn't want just a few charges to build, the wanted a smorgasbord so they know that at least something will stick.

Bigtime cost of this entrapment - errr - investigation.

 

[VUPDblue]

I suggest you find a dictionary and brush up on the definition of entrapment...

 

[bglaze]

To the other gun store owners in central Indiana:

Please take note and avoid the pitfalls that Fred fell into. Not only the criminal allegations, but also the seemingly massive record keeping blunders.

I am not among the Fred bashers. I actually loved his store. He kept in stock a lot of rare and obscure firearms that I was always interested in. I was able to hold in my hands a lot of cool guns that I wouldn't have been able to otherwise--no other shop has a comparable inventory. Lol, I mean he had stuff in his shop that you couldn't find at the 1500 on a good day!

I also saw through Fred's sometimes abrasive facade to a man who has been running the same small business for 40 years and has become very set in his ways.

My first firearm purchase was at his store, and I have made a lot of very positive memories there. I do not excuse criminal malfeasance. But even if he is convicted and guilty of all charges, I will miss him and his store dearly.

Nevertheless, I don't want to lose ANY MORE gun shops to the ATF's christmas tree; so please, for all of our sakes, keep on the up and up!!!

 

[NIFT]

To the other gun store owners in central Indiana:

Please take note and avoid the pitfalls that Fred fell into. Not only the criminal allegations, but also the seemingly massive record keeping blunders.

I am not among the Fred bashers. I actually loved his store. He kept in stock a lot of rare and obscure firearms that I was always interested in. I was able to hold in my hands a lot of cool guns that I wouldn't have been able to otherwise--no other shop has a comparable inventory. Lol, I mean he had stuff in his shop that you couldn't find at the 1500 on a good day!

I also saw through Fred's sometimes abrasive facade to a man who has been running the same small business for 40 years and has become very set in his ways.

My first firearm purchase was at his store, and I have made a lot of very positive memories there. I do not excuse criminal malfeasance. But even if he is convicted and guilty of all charges, I will miss him and his store dearly.

Nevertheless, I don't want to lose ANY MORE gun shops to the ATF's christmas tree; so please, for all of our sakes, keep on the up and up!!!

Well spoken!

 

[snapping turtle]

Things have changed over the years. I remember counting out the cash dollar bill by dollar bill in front of the gun store owner and dad filling out the paperwork when i was under age. I guess that is still OK. I must have been at kmart back then. The clerk knew from the shape of the wadded up bills that I had saved up to buy dad would not have been counting out quarters.

Now I can't even place 20 dollars down to hold a gun in lay-a-way and have dad come in and pay for it and pick it up. He was nice enough to remove it from the for sale rack and wait until dad came to see it. But he would not let me put a non refundable 20 down on it for my father. He basically did the same thing taking it off the for sale rack but would not take a cent to hold it. Just my word that dad would be over in two hours to buy it.

Lots different than letting some make 50 for the paperwork in front of hidden camera's. Still a CI, Maybe he had the three monkeys in a picture somewhere in the shop.

Lets say I wanted to buy 10 pistols (colt 1911's) for gift's for my employees for a stellar year of profits in my business. I have background check since I have to have them for a client and no felon's allowed there. So i know I will be ok. If i know when i fill out the paperwork they will be gift's and a business write off would I be in trouble for filling out that the guns were purchased for me.

 

[shootersix]

I suggest you find a dictionary and brush up on the definition of entrapment...

after reading some(not all) of the charges i dont think it was entrapment. he told them how to fill out the paperwork (ie in the case of the felon and the out of state handgun purchase) thats not entrapment, those were straw purchases, if they would have asked "well how do we fill this out so i can buy this?" and then he told them THAT'S entrapment

i say lock him up, yes some of the counts were bs like not filling out the proper date on the forms,(thats sloppy book keeping) but some were very serious and VERY illegal and give legal law abiding gun dealers a bad name

 

[Westside]

After reading some and skimming the rest this is one bad apple I think groups will latch on to and try to use as a strong arm to close and restrict other shops.