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No charges against man who took SLO police chief’s gun

August 18, 2019

Skeeter Mangan

San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow has decided not to file charges against the man who found SLO Police Chief Deanna Cantrell’s firearm on a toilet paper holder in El Pollo Loco and then turned it over to police the following day, Dow announced on Saturday. [Cal Coast Times]

After officers collected the gun, they thanked Skeeter Mangan and his brother-in-law Sean Greenwood, and said they did not plan to charge Mangan based on Penal Code 485, Greenwood said. But shortly after Mangan returned the firearm, the city issued a press release that said he was a suspect in the theft of the chief’s firearm.

In his announcement, Dow wrote that even though there was enough evidence to support a misdemeanor charge of Penal Code section 485 because Mangan did not immediately attempt to return the gun, he had selected not to proceed with criminal charges.

“After thoroughly considering all the circumstances, I have concluded that it would not be in the interest of justice to charge Mr. Mangan with a crime,” Dow wrote.

According to Penal Code 485, a person is guilty of theft if they find property, and appropriate the property for their own use, “without first making reasonable and just efforts to find the owner and to restore the property to the owner.”

In his press release, Dow credits Greenwood for the return of the gun.

“Mr. Greenwood’s actions enabled the quick recovery of this lost firearm and prevented any further harm to come from this unfortunate situation,” Dow wrote. “It is my sincere hope that Mr. Mangan and other members of our community have learned from this widely publicized situation that failure to take immediate steps to find the rightful owner of lost property is a crime of theft under California law.”


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The good news is that Dan Dow did the right thing in not charging a innocent man, that Cantrell wanted swinging from the gallows:(

The bad/sad news is that his brothers innocent family is still being ground by the maws of justice:(

How can SLOPD not pass the hat around and step in and do the right thing, pay for the money lost on bail, dog pound fee’s, reimbursement for lost wages and spoiled food from leaving the refrigerator door open!!!

Offer to pay for counseling if they really thought there was a parenting problem!!!

Police Officers need the public trust, but it needs to be earned,

Not a single apology or word of empathy from Cantrell or others in the department, that were part of this miscarriage of justice:(


40

Sheesh…The DA does what the vast majority of us feel should happen, let this guy off the hook, and some folks still find something to complain about.


-27

The DA should have been in front of it all the time and NEVER have even alluded to dangling this guy on the hook in the first place for what were CANTRELL’s dangerous and wholly incompetent actions.


32

Yes we do. The professionally trained police department performs their investigation and they are sure three felonies were committed and present it to the DA. The DA takes a look at it and says maybe one misdemeanor could be charged. Why to difference? The DA knows the right thing to do but still has to show us he has no backbone and weakly claim no charges to be filed when he should have stood proud and tall and said that Skeeter Mangan committed no crime but that crimes were committed by the police department.


31

“It is my sincere hope that Mr. Mangan and other members of our community have learned from this widely publicized situation that failure to take immediate steps to find the rightful owner of lost property is a crime of theft under California law.” — Dan Dow


I have learned that law enforcement is deeply steeped in self-deception (using rules of men to define as “stealing” what nature and math would certainly and ONLY call “finding” … solely because it serves law enforcement’s personal interests) and that law enforcement deserves all the bad rap it has gotten.


30

Now, let’s charge and prosecute Chief Cantrell with ALL the potential charges that the State would have unleashed on me or any other otherwise law abiding citizen!


Didn’t the Chief in Paso get run out on a rail for somewhat similar issue? How about that Morro Bay officer that had a firearm stolen from his car, IIRC. Refresh my memory but weren’t they all vilified by the authorities after similar instances?


37

So the press release refers to “… a suspect in the theft of the chief’s firearm ….” BULLPUCKEY.


The chief’s loaded gun was FOUND abandoned in a public place by someone who failed to return it in the manner the chief and her cronies wanted and needed to save their sorry, incompetent butts.


Thank goodness there are not yet regulations that require average citizens to watch the news 24-7 and to have smart phones in order to know that the SLO PD was in loud broadcast panic mode looking for the chief’s “stolen” (ha ha hahahahahaha) gun and all news and social media were ringing with it therefore Mangan should have known …. … when Mangan has the RIGHT to live his life free of constant social and news media blathering and nagging.


This whole mess was result of Cantrell forgetting her gun and leaving it in a public place.


Overpaid Deanna Cantrell and her overpaid CYA-cronies are the real thieves, stealing truth by using the WRONG WORDS for what actually happened.


71

Thank goodness! Should never have been an option.


Now, leave the O’Connor Way family alone. Let them get on their feet and have their kids back.


63

Not nearly enough. Incompetent, dangerous Cantrell and her posse should be run out of town on a rail so that the NEXT family never has to go through this in the first place.


36

We’ve all learned from this, Mr. Dow. The next time we find a gun negligently left somewhere, we should leave it for a kid to find and accidentally shoot themselves or someone else. Got it!


46

You’re darned right we’ve learned from this. I’ve learned that Dan Dow is willing to rationalize the truth as much as any of his opponents.


Here’s the deal, Mr. Dow: self-interested law-makers can twist all the language into law that they want to make two plus two equal five, but in the REAL world there was ZERO ACTUAL THEFT INVOLVED.


You know it and I know it. Ulterior motives and authority allow liars and cheats such as those in law enforcement to twist finding a found object and failing to turn it in within 24 hours in the manner police refer, as “theft.”


31

I bet too; “Promise you won’t sue us and we’ll give you your kids back”.


46

Their best bet is to put everything back the way it was, then wait for people to forget.


19

Yup. Except they’ll start remembering once they’re pushed too far.


I’ll sure remember come election day.


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