I have to admit being taken aback by this reward poster on the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation website.  I can see the utility in grabbing a graphic from the Internet, that’s unlikely to draw a complaint from the owner. It may even be in the public domain. But I find the juxtaposition of GLOCK Perfection with a double child murder case to be a little disturbing . . .

The pistol may be useful in the trial of Kevin Sweat, who has given a confession of sorts. A hearing has been scheduled to determine if the video of the confession will be allowed at the trial. Sweat has been charged with the murder of his fiancée Ashley Taylor. Have you seen this gun?

©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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63 COMMENTS

  1. Yeah. The Glock logo is WAY over the top. I can’t even imagine the thinking of whoever thought to put it there.

    • I would turn it in and I would tell them where I got it. I don’t see any harm or foul in that.

      I don’t see any problem with this reward poster. The logo and picture are merely visual means of attempts to locate the gun. They are looking for a glock model 22. What do all these other TTAG posters expect? They put a picture of a old western revolver and some other logo? Of course not – they put a picture of the glock logo and a picture of a glock 22.

      Read more here:
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logic

      • I’m just wondering what the lawyers for Glock might say about their company’s logo appearing on the poster. If Glock doesn’t complain, then the matter is settled.

      • The department / bureau that created this poster probably uses G22s themselves.

        If I had purchased a gun through legal means (which, of course, I would have) and then it was later found that some previous owner of it had used it in a crime and it was wanted by police, I would comply and turn it over to them for use as evidence. That said, I would want to be compensated for the value of it. $5,000 is the value plus a lot of incentive to go through the trouble and scrutiny.

        • Get your reward money up front, is all I’m saying. Once they have the gun, their incentive to pay you drops precipitously.

    • I was fishing, in my boat. In a river that has so many bad memories, it seems that at least one boating accident occurs here every week.
      So, I was fishing, thought I could a whopper of a trout and reeled in it. ‘Lo and behold, a Glock 22, serial no. EKG463US. I figured it must be a peace offering from the trout.
      Being perfect, it was completely undamaged by the water. I took home my new Glock, gifted to me by the trout and never thought of it again.

      And that’s exactly how it happened, Officer. But, you should already know that.

      Didn’t Frank tell you?

    • Remember what cooperating with the police got Zimmerman.
      I keep going over in my mind that video on YouTube with the attorney lecturing a law class why you never, ever, talk to the cops.
      I also remember news stories about how they caught a bunch of criminals by offering some free vacation or something similar.
      Just sayin’…

      • Talking to the police probably got Zimmerman out of trouble, initially. Remember, the cops were basically done with him until the Racial Brigade got into it. And even when they did go back after him due to political bullshit, his own words did virtually nothing but help his case. The talking that he did to the cops early on led them to believe that charges weren’t warranted, and they carried that belief onto the stand to his benefit.

    • If you have it and don’t turn it in, then you’re guilty of evidence tampering. If they already know the serial number, then it’s just a matter of time before that trail leads to you, one way or another, now or in the future. You’re best off turning it in and collecting reward. If you happen to have come into possession of it by unsavory means yourself, well, shame on you. At that point, you might want to find a gun “buy back”, get your $50 Walmart gift card and be done with it.

  3. Glock could sue for defamation or at least ask why they put their logo so prominently on the poster.

      • Hardly. No one is using the logo to sell. Trademarks protect trade–hence the name. Nor could it sue for defamation. Defamation requires the publication of a false fact. Apparently a GLOCK was used to commit a crime, hence no false fact. End of story. Or are you supposing that the GLOCK got up on its tiny little back legs and murdered two children all by its lonesome? Then, well, maybe.

        • There’s probably an argument that they are using the logo for commercial purposes since a monetary reward is offered.

        • Incorrect, Glock Inc. based in Georgia owns the wordmark and the logo style is trademarked. That means Glock USA is legally responsible to pursue and defend any unauthorized or misuse of their intellectual property. Do you think if they had put an Apple logo on that flyer that they wouldn’t get a nasty gram from Apple’s lawyers?

  6. It’s a state level investigative agency, so I doubt there’s any ill intent. Methinks they traced the gun to someone who privately sold it ,and the authorities need the gun as ballistic proof a crime

    • This. If they already have a partial confession, they just need the ballistics off the gun to seal up the case.

  7. How would they know the serial # and not have it in their possession, or have had it at some point? Seems to me if they never had it, they are going on inferences based off some sales records and/or the word of a confessed killer.

    If I had it I probably would not turn it in, not even for $5,000. Sure, the current owner is not suspected of a crime now. But, wait until you turn it in and they confiscate and investigate. Then you will be suspected of all sorts of crimes.

    • Based on the linked article, the gun was owned by the suspected killer, who somehow got it after it was owned by the Baltimore Police Department, who had kept a spent shell casing which matched shell casings recovered at the scene. Presumably it is from those police records that they obtained the serial number.

      • wait, the police sell their guns when they get new ones? Not possible, the police surely want guns off the street. They would never put them back on the street to make money.

      • Now THAT’s interesting. I thought Baltimore PD destroyed all confiscated guns after they were sold out the back door.

        And for a 2008 crime? WTF?? Did the CI just get rearrested?

      • When I was doing research for the article, I understood that the killer bought the Glock through legal channels. It was after they identified him that they found he had bought the Glock, then they found that the Baltimore Police Department had owned the Glock before that. Then they matched the casings.

        “Glock refurbished the guns, and the one from the Police Department ended up in an Oklahoma gun store, where authorities said it was bought by Kevin Joe Sweat in the fall of 2007.”

        http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-12-17/news/bs-md-ci-police-gun-murder-20111215_1_guns-glock-model-hands-of-law-enforcement

      • So, would this be the very first crime investigation that actually used that otherwise useless fired case? Here in MA, revolvers come with a fired case. You know, for when the empty cases are ejected. 8~)

  9. The only thing I can think of is that for people who aren’t gun savvy, “a gun is a gun is a gun”, and if they notice the somewhat distinctive Glock logo they may take a second look.

    Remember that many folks think that a handgun is just “a thing kinda shaped like a sideways L that goes bang”.

  11. Even though I understand the purpose in this situation, seeing a gun on a wanted poster (instead of the perpetrator) is really sort of creepy.

  13. If they want to find the gun, they need look no further than the nearest gun buy back program. No questions asked.

    • I don’t get it. When I bought mine they said it was primarily used by police. And when I bought my Patrol Rifle they said…..

  15. If I was assured that I wouldn’t be prosecuted I would definitely give it to them.

    Like another poster said with that reward money you could buy several Glocks. I would with this money plus buy boatloads of ammo and mags.

    • Pretty ridiculous. I’d likely turn the gun in to them, anonymously, through an attorney who would have attorney client privilege. Of course, you’d give up a bit of the money, but am I wrong in assuming that your identity would never need to be revealed to the police?

  16. I am concerned that the “wanted poster” anthropomorphizes the gun. Short step from that to “the gun just went off and murdered the kids.”

  18. Good thing there are not many Glocks out there in circulation and that most Glocks all look different. This gun should be easy to spot.

  19. I’m glad they included a picture, because I’ve seen a gun here in Seattle that looks *exactly* like that one. I’m going to call in to get that reward.

    And if that’s not the gun, I’ve seen 200 other guns that look exactly like that that I can call in about.

    • That’s not funny, it’s just fucking stupid. You’ve lost keyboard privileges for one hour.

      That last part isn’t true. But oh, would that it were.

      • We can lose keyboard privileges for a whole hour? Just think of all that I can get done with an hour of free time.

        • So no joke. I’m easily distracted, and when I’m sitting in front of my computer “doing something” (like writing the Digest), it’s hard for me to not click over and check my email when it dings. Makes being productive hard. I found a plugin for Chrome/Gmail called “Inbox Pause.” Hit the button, and it shuts off your incoming emails until you turn it back on. It comes in really handy for me.

          The technical way it works is it turns on your Vacation mode and sets up a filter. Any mail you receive gets labeled and shuffled into a new folder that it creates, so it never hits your Inbox, so you never get a ding, either on your computer or your phone. When you turn it back off, it removes the label, shoves everything in that folder back to your Inbox, and deletes the folder it created to hold it all. Like it never happened. It’s quite awesome.

  21. Posting an image of the make/model of the firearm is no different than
    posting an image of the make/model of a motor vehicle that is being
    sought. All those reading anymore into this should take a chill pill.

    • The concern was less about the picture of the gun than it was about the logo. If this was a flyer about a car that a kid was abducted in, and the car was a Chevy Impala, they might show a picture of the car, but it’s highly unlikely they’d put a big gold bowtie next to it (or a blue oval if it was Ford).

  23. This goes to show how slick and somewhat over-the-top marketing can come back to bite a gun company in their buttocks.

    People should have learned from the Winchester “Black Talon” marketing debacle, but it appears that the lesson needs to be re-taught every so often.

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