Officer Eric Lee faces 2 federal counts in alleged theft of Army-issued silencers
A Boulder police officer was arrested last week by federal authorities, accused of stealing and selling Army-issued assault rifle silencers while serving as a staff sergeant with the National Guard in Fort Lupton.
Eric Shunglik Lee, 33, was apprehended on Oct. 25 along with another Colorado Army National Guard member, Spc. Matthew Colin Laflin, following a month-long undercover investigation by federal agents.
Boulder police Chief Mark Beckner said this morning that Lee, a patrol officer, has been put on leave without pay pending an internal investigation.
According to a criminal complaint filed with the United States District Court in Denver, Lee stole two .223-caliber silencers from the Army and gave them to Laflin. Laflin then sold the silencers, designed to fit an M-4/AR-15-style assault rifle, to a confidential informant working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
In an interview this afternoon, Major Elena O'Bryan, state public affairs officer for the Colorado National Guard, said a "full inventory" of weapons and weapons accessories was conducted across the state and nothing was found to be missing or unaccounted for at any U.S. Army National Guard facility.
She said soldiers' access to weapons, which are stored in locked arms rooms, is "highly controlled."
"They're not our equipment," O'Bryan said of the silencers at the heart of the investigation.
ATF spokesman Bradley Beyersdorf had no comment as to where the silencers might have originated and declined to say anything further about the case.
The criminal complaint states that OPS Inc. sold the silencers to the U.S. Army and that the devices were manufactured in California.
Lee, who has been on the Boulder force since January 2010, is charged with stealing from the Department of Defense and possessing firearms silencers not registered to him. Laflin is charged with receiving and concealing federal property and with possessing silencers not registered to him.
Both men, who are part-time guardsmen with B company, 1st Battalion, 157th Infantry Regiment in Fort Lupton, face up to 10 years behind bars on each count.
Lee was an active duty soldier with the U.S. Army from 2004 until 2009, when he joined the National Guard, O'Bryan said. Laflin joined the Guard in 2006, she said.
Lee and Laflin pleaded not guilty this morning in federal court, said Jeffrey Dorschner, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Denver. They are both free on an unsecured $10,000 bond and have a pre-trial conference scheduled for Dec. 29 and a trial set for Jan. 3, Dorschner said.
Lee's lawyer, Marci Gilligan, hasn't returned a request for comment.
Beckner said a determination about Lee's future with the force will be made in 30 to 45 days, following an investigation.
"If the allegations are proven, he'll be terminated," the chief said.
O'Bryan said the two guardsmen can continue drilling with their regiment but have been flagged, meaning they are not eligible for awards or promotions and cannot attend classes or trainings. She said Lee and Laflin will not be allowed to use weapons at a drill coming up later this month.
According to the complaint, ATF special agents witnessed Laflin meeting with Lee on two separate occasions – Sept. 30 and Oct. 19 – in a Walmart parking lot at 104th Avenue and Interstate 25.
During the October meeting, the agents saw Lee hand Laflin a white plastic bag. The informant met with Laflin later that day at Laflin's home in Northglenn, the complaint reads, and was given a white plastic bag containing a silencer. Laflin was paid $500 for the device, according to the document.
Laflin also gave a white plastic bag with a silencer, instructions and parts needed to attach the device to a rifle to the informant during the Sept. 30 rendezvous, which took place in a parking lot near a Sportman's Warehouse in Thornton, according to the complaint.
The informant told ATF investigators that he had seen text messages on Laflin's phone indicating that his source for the silencers was “Sargent (sic) Lee,” the document states.
It's not clear from the court document for what purpose the silencers were to be used after they were sold, but the informant allegedly told ATF agents that Laflin had suggested getting "subsonic" ammunition to make the rifle "much more" quiet when using the silencer.
Dorschner said the investigation began in late September.
"We received a tip and that initiated an investigation which led to his arrest," he said.
Lee is listed in the complaint as having an address on Gale Boulevard in Denver and at 1455 Gillaspie Drive in Boulder. Dorschner said Lee's Boulder address was searched by federal authorities.
A business that offers lessons and sessions in "deepening the intimacy, love, and sexual ardor" in relationships, called Sacred Sexuality, is listed as operating out of the Gillaspie Drive address, according to the business' website.
But Sacred Sexuality's owner told the Camera this afternoon that the business is no longer in existence. The Colorado Secretary of State's office lists the business, operating under the name of Paradise at Harmony LLC, as having been dissolved in 2003, but that was when it was located in Jamestown.
It's not clear what, if any connection, Lee had to the business.
Dailycamera
