Former Boston cop charged with illegally purchasing guns, one found in possession of alleged gang member

By adamg on Mon, 05/01/2017 - 10:57pm

A federal grand jury has indicted Adarbaad Karani, 37, of West Roxbury, on two counts of making false statement during the purchase of firearms and two counts of making a false statement in a record, the US Attorney's office reports.

Karani resigned as a Boston police officer last November, a year after police found one of the guns he allegedly bought in the possession of Desmond Crawford, whom the feds charge is a member of the Columbia Point Dawgs, a violent gang that started in the old Columbia Point housing project.

Karani allegedly used his police identification to acquire the weapons, which may not be purchased by civilians, and certified on federal forms that the guns were for official police use. Straw purchases interfere with firearm regulation and recordkeeping, and federal law makes it a crime to knowingly make false statements to a firearms dealer in connection with the sale of a firearm.

Innocent, etc.

Neighborhoods:

West Roxbury

Topics:

Crime

Free tagging:

Boston Police Department

Gangs

Columbia Point

Columbia Point Dawgs

Attachment	Size
Karani indictment	370.19 KB

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Comments

BPD never collected video evidence

By anon on Mon, 05/01/2017 - 11:53pm.

Statute of limitations for Boston police brutality case to expire; police never collected video evidence, June 8, 2015

baystateexaminer:

But surveillance video from the bar that was obtained by Fox 25 shows Carnelli standing in the doorway of the bar, talking with Karani and bouncers. At no time did he push anyone. Eventually, Karani and the bouncers dragged Carnelli outside the bar and threw him to the ground. Karani climbed on top of Carnelli, forcing his knee into the man’s back.
Carnelli was charged with assault and battery on a police officer, but the charge was later dismissed by a judge. Last year, he received a $100,000 settlement from the bar and a $300,000 settlement from the city as part of a personal injury lawsuit.

Same Officer

By anon photographer on Tue, 05/02/2017 - 8:21am.

This is the same officer who also had an internal investigation against him years ago for assaulting an intoxicated patron at a club.

I believe it was Revolution Rock Bar and something like 5-6 years ago.

Kind of a 'meh' crime, but a

By DPM on Tue, 05/02/2017 - 8:45am.

Kind of a 'meh' crime, but a civilian would be charged with it so as should a cop.

The cop bought his buddies I assume a Glock so that they could get them for a better price. His buddies apparently had relevant LTC and I imagine these firearms were transferred via FA-10(tho this is a presumption). If he failed to FA-10 them on the transfer than there is strike one. If he DID FA-10 them I think there is a solid defense already being formed.

To be clear new Glocks CAN be purchased by members of the public here in Massachusetts and they are 100% legal to posses (provided no banned features are present). However a DEALER is not allowed to transfer a new Glock to a non police officer. There are a variety of ways to buy 'post ban' Glock handguns legally in the state of Massachusetts and so long as you can legally posess a firearm and you follow FA-10 law or receiver transfer law (need an FFL) all is well.

In short cop is going to jail because he tried to save his friends a couple bucks.

Now this opinion changes if the cop bought the firearm for the alleged gang member (who obviously did not have an LTC) and not a buddy looking to save a couple bucks who had his property stolen. In that case I have no reservations encouraging the prosecution to the fullest extent of the law.

It sounds like a crime ("meh" or not) to me:

By whyaduck on Tue, 05/02/2017 - 2:41pm.

"According to the Indictment, in November 2014 and September 2015, Karani acted as the “straw purchaser” of two firearms, a Glock, model 27, .40 caliber pistol and a Glock, model 30S, .45 caliber pistol, by purchasing them on behalf of acquaintances while falsely claiming the guns were for his official police use and not for resale. One of the weapons, however, was found in possession of Desmond Crawford, an alleged member of the Columbia Point Dawgs, at the time of his arrest in November 2015. Karani allegedly used his police identification to acquire the weapons, which may not be purchased by civilians, and certified on federal forms that the guns were for official police use. Straw purchases interfere with firearm regulation and recordkeeping, and federal law makes it a crime to knowingly make false statements to a firearms dealer in connection with the sale of a firearm."

How did the gang member get

By DPM on Tue, 05/02/2017 - 2:52pm.

How did the gang member get the firearm? Did he steal it? Or did the cop give it to him?

Two very different scenarios. One that is frankly the cop getting his buddy a good deal on a legal firearm, the other is arming a gang banger. If FA-10 forms were filled out for the firearms as is state law there is no lapse in record keeping at all.

Intent matters.

agreed

By anon on Wed, 05/03/2017 - 8:25am.

And on top of that, there is the distinction between a straw purchase and a cop "deciding" that they actually don't want what they purchased and selling it to another legal owner. The limited amount of FA-10s you can do per year actually means nobody is building a Glock flipping enterprise. I'm sure it happens all the time, though.

Ultimately, what's questionable is how the gang member got their hands on it.

"Ultimately, what's

By DPM on Wed, 05/03/2017 - 10:30am.

"Ultimately, what's questionable is how the gang member got their hands on it."

Absolutely. If the gang member stole it from the owner than the crime is pretty meh. If however the cop sold/gave it to the gang member without using a FA-10 the level of criminality in my mind is much higher.