How a racist felon ended up with an arsenal of weapons

[theHandpuppet]

You have to read the whole article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer in order to fully appreciate this bizarre tale. How in the world did a man convicted of violent crime (including a killing) with ties to white supremacist groups end up with an arsenal of weaponry? How many more of these dangerous, "loner" jackboots are out there? To my mind, it's the homegrown terrorists who are more of a threat to national security than any outside "enemy". This nation is awash in weapons... it's sick!!

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/09/from_camisoles_to_ammunition_a.html#incart_river
By John Caniglia, The Plain Dealer
on September 01, 2013

CLEVELAND, Ohio — The paperwork said the mailed package contained $40 worth of women's camisoles. Someone in China sent it to a Toledo address.

Inside, there were no camisoles -- just low-quality, fake NFL jerseys with misspellings of players' names and poor quality stitching, records show. Federal agents had tracked the package and others like it to Richard Schmidt, a Toledo man who ran a sports memorabilia shop in Bowling Green.

But what began with investigators chasing box loads of counterfeit jerseys and baseball caps ended in one of the most perplexing seizures of weapons in Ohio: Authorities in December nabbed 18 guns that included assault rifles, more than 40,000 rounds of ammunition and body armor from Schmidt, a felon who killed a man and wounded two other people in 1989.

Investigators also found possible links to white supremacist groups. He had a VHS tape of a national meeting of the National Socialist Movement and stickers from the National Alliance, according to an inventory of seized items filed in U.S. District Court in Toledo. Agents also obtained notes with the names of Jewish and NAACP leaders in Detroit.... Much more at link above

[gopiscrap]

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