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Kimberly Houk ReportingPowerful, military-type weapons have been stolen from a Tooele man's collection and police fear they may end up in the hands of criminals.
A 63-year old Tooele man has been collecting war memorabilia for the past 15 years. He keeps it all behind a large wall and fence on the outskirts of Tooele. But somebody found a way inside his compound and took seven automatic rifles.
Police say Jack Tomlin was low key about what he's collected over the years, but someone knew he had a cache of valuable and powerful firearms and they knew exactly where to find them. Now they're on the streets, and that has police worried.
"We're definitely worried about them because you don't want these kinds of weapons out on the street. We're hoping that whoever sold them took them for the value in them and not to sell on the street. But that potential is there and we're worried about it."
A large collection of artifacts from past wars is sitting on 60 acres of land outside of Tooele. Tanks, grenades, rockets, cannon and fully automatic rifles, seven of which are now missing. They include one fully automatic Colt AR-15 carbine, a 9 millimeter submachine gun with silencer, a World War II .45 caliber grease gun, and four .45 caliber Colt pistols with magazines.
"They're very dangerous. They're about as dangerous as you can get with rifles. These are fully automatic weapons, and there's a real danger with them."
Police say someone broke into the railroad car where the guns were being stored. They used a power tool to remove a padlock.
"It does look like it's someone Mr. Tomlin knows or knows well enough to know that the guns were there."
Police are interviewing everyone who's familiar with Tomlin's property. And they say they're getting closer to naming a suspect. Tomlin declined to talk to us; he doesn't want people to know exactly what he owns, but he did say both he and the police are worried about what may happen with the stolen weapons.
Tomlin has a new security system on his property. He's also offering a five thousand dollar reward for any information leading to the arrest of the suspect.
