IN THE MATTER OF THE CLAIM OF LOUIS EDWARD KATONA, III BATF Investigation No. 33510-92-1038L 1 CLAIM Claimant, Louis Edward Katona, III, by his attorney, hereby makes claim for the return of all his personal property seized and held by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms as follows: 1. Authority for this claim is found in section 7325(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, Title 26, United States Code, and in section 72.22(a)(6) of Title 27 of the Code of Federal Regulations. 2. The claim is timely within the period set forth in the BATF notice of seizure and intent to forfeit dated July 22, 1992, a true copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit 1 and incorporated herein by reference. 3. A bond in the amount required by section 7325(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and 27 C.F.R. sec. 72.22(a)(6) accompanies this claim. 4. The Claimant is the lawful owner of all property seized from his home and held by BATF. He is the lawful transferee and registrant of all thirty-two (32) firearms seized from his home on May 8, 1992, and held by BATF. 5. The Claimant is also the lawful owner, transferee and registrant of a certain M203 firearm (serial number 0175465) obtained by BATF on April 26, 1991, with the promise that it would be returned, but which BATF has continuously refused to return. A true copy of BATF's "document" receipt for the M-203 is attached hereto as Exhibit 2 and incorporated herein by reference. 6. The property demanded to be returned by this claim consists of those thirty-two (32) firearms listed on the Return to Search Warrant executed by BATF agents Lance L. Kimmell, Stephen C. Wells, and Steven St. Pierre on Claimant's home at 1330 Oakridge Drive, Bucyrus, Ohio, on May 8, 1992, as well as the M-203 described in paragraph 5, above. A true copy of the Return, as provided to the Claimant by the BATF agents, is attached hereto as Exhibit 3 and incorporated herein by reference. (The 32 firearms, but not their accessories and extra components, are also described in BATF's seizure notice, Exhibit 1, above.) 7. In addition, demand is made for the return of property seized by the aforenamed BATF agents but not receipted for nor acknowledged on the Return. This property consists of gun cases and packing cases, additional barrels, optical scopes, ammunition magazines, copies of Claimant's BATF Forms 4 and 1 for the firearms seized, and photographs of the interior of Claimant's home including, incredibly, pictures of war souvenir battle flags hanging on the walls of Claimant's home. 8. The grounds for this claim are as follows: (A) BATF has failed to initiate a judicial forfeiture proceeding within the time allowed by law, 18 U.S.C. sec. 924(d)(1), and no longer has jurisdiction over the property of the Claimant, nor the legal authority to retain custody of it. (B) BATF has either failed to obtain appraisals of the seized property as required by 26 U.S.C. sec. 7325(1) and 27 C.F.R. sec. 72.22(a)(2), or has relied upon incompetent or unqualified appraisers. The result is that BATF has grossly and illegally undervalued the seized property and attempted to evade its statutory responsibility to cause the initiation of a judicial forfeiture proceeding. (C) Agents of BATF obtained possession of Claimant's M-203, described in paragraph 5, above, by false pretenses and have unlawfully and illegally retained possession of it. (D) In retaliation for Claimant's lawful attempts to secure the return of his M-203, Claimant was made the target of a vindictive, punitive and illegal criminal investigation by agents of BATF. (E) Agents of BATF recklessly and negligently relied upon perjured statements by a biased, vindictive and notoriously unreliable informant as the sole basis for probable cause to obtain a search warrant for Claimant's home. Even a cursory inspection of the BATF Forms 4 in question reveals that they bear the same distinctive signatures as other BATF Forms 4 and 5 admittedly signed by the informant. A simple forensic examination by BATF would have revealed that the agents were investigating the wrong false statement. A simple inquiry into the respective reputations for truth and veracity of the Claimant and the informant in their community would have raised caution flags which prudent and responsible investigators would have heeded before precipitously seeking a federal search warrant and subjecting Claimant and his family to an intrusive and unjustified search and seizure. WHEREFORE, the Claimant demands as follows: 1. That all Claimant's seized property be promptly returned to him in the same condition as when seized, including all firearms and accessories and associated copies of BATF Forms 4 and 1, as well as all copies of all photographs taken of the interior of Claimant's home, including all negatives thereof. 2. That Claimant's bond be immediately exonerated and returned to him. 3. That the Claimant receive his reasonable attorney's fees as provided by 18 U.S.C. sec. 924(d)(1), 26 U.S.C. sec. 7430, and 28 U.S.C. sec. 2412. 4. That BATF take immediate steps to safeguard and preserve all counterpart original retained BATF Forms 1 and 4 pertaining to the seized firearms (and all other forms Claimant was alleged to have forged) in a forensically sterile manner guaranteed to preserve their usefulness for latent fingerprint testing and handwriting and ink analysis and to preserve their evidentiary chain of custody. JAMES H. JEFFRIES, III 3019 Lake Forest Drive Greensboro, North Carolina 27408 (919) 282-6024 Counsel for Claimant I, Louis Edward Katona, III, have read the foregoing Claim and attest and affirm that all facts recited therein are true and correct. LOUIS EDWARD KATONA, III, Claimant