Federal Prosecutors say a Department of Homeland Security agent from Brighton is in hot water. Officer Leroy Doctor left his .223 caliber assault rifle and bulletproof vest in the back seat of his car overnight, where they were stolen by a drug addict.
Papers filed in federal court say Russell Lawrence (photo) admitted he stole the Colt M4 rifle and a “tactical police vest” from the back of the car along with a pair of 30-round magazines. He later sold them to a drug dealer. Several other cars in the same Brighton neighborhood were broken into that same night in September.
Russell admitted to the theft after crashing a stolen car in Parma last week and being arrested by Monroe County Deputies. He told them he got $750 for the automatic weapon, partly in cash and partly in heroin. Authorities don’t know where the weapon is.
The marked DHS vehicle was assigned to Homeland Security. He left the rifle on the back seat of the car. While he locked the front doors, the back doors apparently weren’t locked. Russell came across it while going through unlocked cars looking for anything he could steal to support his drug habit.