DC Businessman’s Home Raided Over Unregistered Ammo

A total of 30 Washington, DC police officers raided a businessman’s home and reportedly drug his naked son out of the shower. Mark Witaschek was the law-abiding firearms owner subjected to the evening gun raid. The officers broke down the door with a battering ram. Second Amendment rights supporters are question why Witaschek, a man without a criminal record, faced prison time for possession of unregistered ammo.

The DC law enforcement officers were searching for gun paraphernalia such as empty holsters, ammo, empty magazines, ammo receipts, and even gun cleaning equipment. Mark Witaschek’s entire block was locked down by Washington, D.C. officers. His 14-year-old daughter opened the door and was met with more than two dozen officers in full tactical gear. The law enforcement officers participating in the gun raid reportedly pointed their firearms at Witaschek and his girlfriend’s heads.

Officers premised their search on a claim made by Witaschek’s estranged wife. The woman was reportedly able to convince a court clerk to issue a temporary restraining order against the father of her children because he had allegedly threatened her with a gun. A judge later threw out the case after determining it was without merit. The raid occurred after the judge had issued his ruling. If all is needed to conduct a warrantless search, raid, and damage a home is a complaint from a disgruntled ex-significant other, virtually everyone in the city [potentially the country] is at risk.

Mark Witaschek had this to say about the DC gun raid:

“They used a battering ram to bash down the bathroom door and pull him [son] out of the shower, naked. The police put all the children together in a room, while we were handcuffed upstairs. I could hear them crying, not knowing what was happening.”

A list of items found in the DC gun raid after Witaschek’s house was tossed for hours, as shared by the Washington Times:

• · One live round of 12-gauge shotgun ammunition — an inoperable shell that misfired during a hunt years earlier that Witaschek kept as a souvenir.

• · One handgun holster — which is perfectly legal, even in Washington, D.C.

• · One expended round of.270 caliber ammunition — a spent brass casing.

• · One box of Knight bullets for reloading, according to police notation on the warrant. Except, Miller reveals, they aren’t for reloading they’re for antique-replica, single-shot, muzzle-loading rifles.

Mark Witaschek’s home sustained approximately $10,000 during the DC gun raid and he now faces up to two years in prison for unregistered ammo possession. Washington, D.C. law mandates that all residents register all firearms owned with the police department and only registered gun owners can possess ammunition – even spent casings and shells. The maximum for violating the local statute is up to a year prison time and a $1,000 fine. Witaschek owns guns, but he keeps them at his sister’s home in nearby Arlington, Virginia.

The shocking gun raid was the second time DC law enforcement officers visited Witaschek’s home. Last year the Gun Recovery Unit was granted access to his home sans warrant because the businessman felt he had nothing to hide. After an hour of searching, the law enforcement officers found a gun cleaning kit and a Civil War antique Colt revolver. Even though the antique weapon was perfectly legal in DC, it was still seized in the raid. Several weeks after the raid the Gun Recovery Unit went to his sister’s home, without either a warrant or accompaniment by the Virginia police, and requested to see her Mark Witaschek’s guns. Sister Sylvia refused. The following day the DC police returned with a criminal subpoena and law enforcement officers from Arlington County.

Two pre-trail hearings in the case so far. Judge Robert Morin gave the government until January three to establish a good defense for the police raid of the home without a search warrant. Assistant attorneys general for the District on the case, Peter Saba and Oritsejemine Trouth, offered Witaschek probation if he pleaded guilty, he declined. During the second hearing, the judge disallowed the first search and the fruits of it, including the box of ammo. Prosecutors are continuing on with the two items from the second raid, a box of muzzleloader sabots and a misfired 12-gauge shotgun shell.

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