ARMY TOLD ME “GUN IS THEIRS” SAYS
BRADLEY WILL EXECUTOR – RICHARD
LAUTER REVEALS CARLISLE BARRACKS
OFFICIALS CLAIMED “RIGHT” TO
DISPUTED PISTOL – “IF I KNEW THEN,
WHAT I KNOW NOW, I WOULDN’T HAVE
LET THEM TAKE IT,” HE TELLS
MILITARYCORRUPTION.COM – EFFORT
TO PIN BLAME ON LAUTER DOOMED TO
FAILURE – PRESSURE BUILDS ON
HUNTOON TO GIVE UP WEAPON NOW
OR BE SUED IN FEDERAL COURT

© 2005 MilitaryCorruption.com

The “gun grab” scandal that has embarrassed the Pentagon and U.S. Army the past four months is fast approaching a climax. Informed sources tell MilitaryCorruption.com there is “panic” at Root Hall, as arrogant and indecisive Gen. David Huntoon, the present-commandant, tries to wiggle out of the mess he finds himself in.

One more “excuse” for the Carlisle Barracks leadership illegally taking a commemorative .45 cal. handgun, owned by longtime Gen. Omar Bradley aide Charles Honeycutt, has been
removed.

Richard Lauter, executor of Mrs. Kitty Bradley’s estate, tells us in an EXCLUSIVE interview, that officials at the famed Army post in Pennsylvania told him they had a “right” to possess the valuable pistol.

EXECUTOR OF WILL NOT TO BLAME

“If I knew then what I know now, I never would have let them [the Army] take it,” Lauter said. “I would turn it over to the probate court here in California and let them sort it out.”

[Actually, the probate court does not have jurisdiction in this matter, no matter how many times the Command parrots that line. The gun was given to Honeycutt by Mrs. Bradley three years before her death, so it could not have been part of her estate, willed to the Army and the Gen. Omar Bradley Foundation.]

The executor’s remarks blunt any attempt by Carlisle Barracks to claim they unknowingly violated federal law when they took the gun across state lines, bringing it from California to the Army Heritage and Education Center.

“They are getting desperate,” said a deep-cover source, close to the commandant’s office. “The JAG has to realize that they will surely lose if the case goes to federal court.”

Honeycutt not only has ATF ownership papers, but thanks to MilitaryCorruption.com investigators on the ground in California, now has written proof that Kitty Bradley not only wanted but directed that the disputed weapon be given as a “gift” to her longtime aide, “in gratitude for his many years of service.”

That notarized, slam-dunk document is now in the hands of Honeycutt’s lawyer, John “Bulldog” Wells.

CORNERED LIKE A RAT

“There are very few cards left for them to play,” said the informant. “If the Command hoped to somehow pin the blame for the fiasco on the executor of Mrs. Bradley’s will, his comments to your web site now make that impossible.

“After all, the onus of guilt and suspicion is on them. If I was Conrad Crane about now, I’d be reaching out to you folks and telling all he knows, before he finds himself hauled into court.”

Readers of MCC will recall we reported Honeycutt told Crane (Gen. Huntoon’s “personal representative”) when the AHEC official traveled to California after Mrs. Bradley died, not to “inventory or remove” the prized pistol (preserved in a display case) from the Bradley mansion because the weapon was his and the former aide could prove it [ATF ownership document 4473].

This statement was made in the presence of a Bradley family member who has provided our investigators with a notarized statement attesting to that fact.

In a letter to California Congresswoman Mary Bono, the garrison commander admits the gun was taken out of California by none other than Conrad Crane.

DECEITFUL AND SUSPICIOUS BEHAVIOR

The fact this was done deceitfully, with no notification to the owner that his property was being converted, casts a great deal of suspicion on why the move was made in secret.

In addition, when Honeycutt was warned of the theft by the Bradley family maid, he asked the JAG office flat-out if Carlisle Barracks had his weapon. He never got a straight answer, just the “run-around.” Why was that? What was the Command trying to hide? Were they hoping the elderly and ill Honeycutt would die before he could force them to acknowledge their actions in grabbing the gun without his knowledge?

“The Army – and Huntoon especially – are going to look like hell if this goes into court in Harrisburg,” said our Root Hall source. “Lots of media will be there, and Bucher [fast-track, former Pentagon flack, public affairs officer LTC Merideth “Bumbling” Bucher] will be hard-pressed to explain away just why the Army abused and tried to cheat the former aide to the late and much beloved Gen. Omar Bradley.