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Weapons Stolen From SWAT Team Member's SUV

Posted: 1:19 pm EST November 10, 2006Updated: 5:51 pm EST November 10, 2006

Someone broke into an Orange County SWAT team member's SUV and stole a machine gun with a silencer, an assault rifle, and a handgun.

The sheriff's office won't disclose the exact location where the deputy lives, but said he lives in the Cypress Springs subdivision, where the thieves pried open the door of his SUV and grabbed the guns out of the back seat as it was parked right in front of his house.

The stolen guns are serious, military-grade weapons. A deputy's mistake put the same highly-powerful gun that SWAT team members use to storm a house full of criminals on the streets of Orange County.

"They were in the back of a sports utility vehicle, which would obviously give anybody access to the weapons if they got inside the passenger compartment," said Jim Solomons, Orange County Sheriff's Office.

Overnight, several cars in the Cypress Springs neighborhood of east Orange County were broken into. The three weapons, a UMP-45 fully-automatic machine gun with a noise depression device, an H&K G3 assault rifle and a Glock 21 semi automatic handgun, were an easy steal once the thieves pried open the deputy's unmarked SUV.

The deputy's name isn't being released, but he will almost certainly face some sort of discipline, because the weapons are required to be locked up or at least secured.

David Schmidbauer is a former gunnery sergeant. He deals guns now and even he's worried the weapons are in the wrong hands.

"You cannot just buy them in a regular gun store," he said. "These are weapons you do not want criminals to have on the street."

The sheriff's office is offering a $2,500 reward (800-423-TIPS) for information leading to the return of the weapons. The deputy involved is currently still being paid and still on the job, but he will likely face an investigation by the professional standards division.

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