St. Tammany gun shakedown

 

Under current federal scrutiny, a Louisiana sheriff shifts his position after spending years defending two lawsuits that request the return of items seized at the residence of a former deputy.

“I’m not surprised that, two days after I was served with a subpoena to appear before a federal grand jury on February 28, the sheriff’s office now claims we can have our son’s shotgun back,” said the former St. Tammany Parish deputy, Norman J. Manton, Jr.

Sherrie Buras-Manton, his wife, and plaintiff in the action against St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Rodney “Jack” Strain and other St. Tammany Parish deputies, told Human Events that when she and her husband met with Strain in 2008, after her husband was released from jail and all charges were dropped, she requested that her personal items be returned.

“None of the personal items seized were returned, and no one ever gave us a reason why,” she said. “We filed papers in federal court requesting those items and alleging that our First and Second Amendment rights were violated.”

“One of the items was a Remington 870 Youth Model 20 Gauge Shotgun with the initials ‘DJM’ that belonged to my then 18-year old son David J. Manton,” she said.  Her son David died in 2010 in a freak gun accident.

Also seized as a result of a search warrant, were religious items to include a Bible, Missal (used to celebrate Catholic Mass), David’s rosary beads, and various Catholic medals and prayer cards, she said.

“David’s rosary beads were a first Holy Communion gift from my husband and me when he was a young boy.  He had the rosary beads hung on his shot gun in a locked closet in his bedroom,” Buras-Manton said.
“We have been demanding the return of our Bible, David’s rosary beads and his shotgun for close to five years,” she said. “Since my son is deceased, each memory of him is all we have left.”

“The Sheriff’s office has the Remington 20 Gauge Shotgun in its possession,” said Charles M. “Chuck” Hughes Jr., attorney for Strain. “We have always had it.  They [Mr. and Mrs. Manton] have always known that we have it, but they chose to ignore it.”

When asked whether the sheriff’s office possesses any of the other items listed in the federal complaint, Hughes told Human Events that the only item seized from the Manton home was the shot gun.

“That’s a lie,” said Manton.  “I was told by the evidence custodian, that high ranking members of the sheriff’s office told him to hide the items, which included the religious materials and the shot gun.”
“I was also told by a senior deputy that my items were locked-up,” he said.

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