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Sgt. Thomas Arnold reported the theft to Roseville police Tuesday, July 17, at 8:45 a.m. He said it occurred sometime between Monday at 10 p.m. and Tuesday at 8 a.m.
The loaded 9mm Glock, Arnold's St. Paul police duty weapon, had been in the center console of his sport-utility vehicle, said Lt. Lorne Rosand, Roseville police spokesman. Arnold thought he'd locked the SUV the night before but suspected he might not have because the vehicle was not damaged, Rosand said.
The gun was in a plain, black off-duty holster, Rosand said. Roseville police entered information about the gun into a national law-enforcement database.
"Obviously, we take it pretty seriously, no matter whose gun it is -- whether it be a cop or a civilian," Rosand said. "That's another gun out on the street."
Guns, whether they belong to officers or civilians, should never be left in unattended vehicles because "the only barrier between a firearm and a bad guy is a piece of glass," Rosand said.
If a gun isn't being carried, it should be locked in a vault inaccessible to anyone else, Rosand said.
St. Paul police spokesman Howie Padilla said Wednesday, "As is standard in all cases when service equipment has been reported stolen or missing, an internal inquiry will take place."
Arnold, through Padilla, declined comment.
In 2008, a woman whom Arnold
knew through his police work was sentenced to two years in prison for threatening him and his 10-year-old son at a Roseville Walgreens two days before Christmas 2007. Candyce Marlee Jones, the girlfriend of convicted murderer Tyvarus Lindsey, referring to Arnold's son, said, "With the people you are harassing, he is going to end up dead, and I'll see to it," Arnold testified.
At Jones' sentencing, her defense attorney said "juries can be wrong" and alleged that Arnold had continuously harassed Jones because of her associations with convicts and murder suspects. The attorney wanted to introduce that Arnold had numerous complaints in his personnel file, but the judge didn't allow it. Arnold's record also shows several commendations and other recognition.
Lindsey was convicted in the 2007 execution-style shootings in the North End of Maria McLay, 32; McLay's daughter, Brittany Kekedakis, 15; and Otahl "TC" Saunders, 31. He also was convicted in the 2005 killing of Leon Brooks in St. Paul.
Cancer
