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Marc Giauque and Sandra Yi reporting A missing case of military assault rifles has turned up on Hill Air Force Base, but officials still don't know who took them.
Whoever took them had a change of heart. He brought the weapons back for base officials to find this morning.
Maj. Shannon Smith, air base wing security commander, said, "What we think happened was this was a crime of opportunity."
An early-morning phone call led base officials to the missing M-16 rifles. Smith said, "We think that he saw some of these news reports and decided the best thing to do was bring the weapons back."
Whoever it was, that person returned to the base and left the case at the horse stables, about a half mile from the Roy Gate. The man called the base at 5:45 this morning from a pay phone in Layton.
"He brought them out there because he thought that was a place he could drop them off, be undetected and get off base, and then a couple hours later, call us up and let us know where they were at," Smith said.
He left an apology note in the case.
Smith said, "The case was intact. All 12 weapons were intact. The serial numbers all matched the serial numbers of the missing weapons."
Base officials believe the man had the weapons for two days, that's when the case fell off a Humvee.
Members of the 729th Air Control Squadron were returning from a training exercise and left the tailgate down. Smith said, "We've had no incidents in any recent history of any lost weapons, so our procedures were sound. This was just a simple mistake."
He says anyone moving weapons will use a checklist to prevent this from happening again.
It's just one embarrassing mistake that's affected the Air Force's image. But officials say they're isolated incidents, and they're learning from them.
Air Base Wing Commander Linda Medler said, "As we look at each incident, we will make improvements, and we will move forward, and we will continue to be the best Air Force in the world."
Officials say this is still an ongoing investigation. They are trying to identify the man and urge him to come forward.
Based on his description, officials believe he's not a member of the military, but he has a credential to get on the base. He could face charges.
E-mail: mgiauque@ksl.com
E-mail: syi@ksl.com