Opinion ID: 161699
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Richard M. Gowers's Handgun and its Chain of Possession

Text: 18 Meanwhile, investigation of the gun took a similar trajectory. On either August 13 or 14, 1999, Deputy Van Roosendaal ran a check to see if the gun had been reported stolen, and the computer reported it had not been. The FBI agent assigned to the case, Agent Montefusco, further investigated whether the gun was stolen. The agent interviewed the gun's owner, Richard M. Gowers, who said that it had been missing since June or July of 1998. Gowers did not report the gun stolen, however, because he suspected that his son, Robbie Gowers, who was seventeen in 1998, had taken it. 19 Robbie admitted to the agent that he had taken the gun in July 1998; he said he took it for the purpose of shooting rabbits. According to Robbie, he loaned the gun to his stepbrother-in-law, Justin Montoya, but Montoya never returned it, even after Robbie asked him for it several times. Montoya, in contrast, told the agent that he intended to buy the gun from Robbie for $200, but he admitted that he never paid for it. He also reported that a few days after he received the gun he traded it to a man known only by his first name, Ryan, for one-quarter ounce of methamphetamine. With this information, FBI agents interviewed Walters again, who stated that, to his knowledge, a person named Ryan owned the gun. He admitted at his change-of-plea hearing that he possessed the gun while driving the truck.