U.S. Agents Seize Weapons From Former LAPD Chief

AGOURA HILLS —  Federal agents Friday seized four assault weapons and three World War II-era machine guns belonging to Bayan Lewis, one-time interim chief of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Lewis, currently head of the county’s security force, said all the weapons are legally owned and he invited agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms to inspect them after they became involved in a quarrel between him and his estranged wife. He called the ATF himself, he said, after his wife told him she was going to report he had the weapons.

An ATF spokesman confirmed that seizures had taken place and that agents were investigating the legality of the weapons, but gave few details.

Lewis said the assault weapons, of types which have have been illegal to buy in California since 1989, were purchased prior to the ban and are registered with the state as the law requires for continued ownership. The machine guns, he said, are collectors’ items that have been rendered inoperable by welding.

“I don’t have anything that’s illegal,” Lewis said. “I’m estranged from my wife right now and she is doing whatever she can to screw me the best she can.”

The weapons were taken from the home Lewis formerly shared with his wife, Debra, and from a rented storage locker on Agoura Road, he said. Also in the locker were boxes containing hundreds of rounds of ammunition and grenades that Lewis said were harmless empty hulls.

Lewis, 56, said he once used the assault rifles and ammunition for target shooting, although he has not done so for the past 10 or 12 years.

John D’Angelo, a spokesman for the ATF in Los Angeles, said agents took military training devices, including grenade hulls, from a storage locker in Agoura Hills, but described no other weapons. Asked if the devices appeared to be illegal, D’Angelo said: “It’s premature for me to say, but we will be looking into it to see if there are any violations.”

He would not tie the seizures to Lewis, but Lewis confirmed the weapons were his and said the assault weapons and machine guns had also been taken.

Debra Lewis, who filed for divorce in February, said at least one of the weapons was seized at her house Thursday night.

Debra Lewis said she contacted several law enforcement agencies about her husband’s weapons. She and her sister, Pam Stringer, also called Times reporters repeatedly. Stringer stood in front of the Public Storage facility on Agoura Road on Thursday evening, distributing to reporters photos of ammunition and guns she said were owned by Lewis.

Lewis denied her husband’s claim that she was out to get him. “I’m trying to be a responsible person and not jeopardize the lives of many others,” she said, saying she was worried about the safety risks of the weapons cache.

Debra Lewis said she has never known her husband to engage in target shooting in the 12 years they have been married.

Bayan Lewis retired from the LAPD last year, after serving as interim chief from May to August 1997, between the tenures of the outgoing Willie L. Williams and the incoming Bernard C. Parks.

In January, Lewis was tapped to head the county’s newly created Office of County Security, which is responsible for patrolling a vast network of hospitals and health clinics, parks, welfare offices and other public facilities.

Lewis’ mandate is to transform the hodgepodge of 700 officers working for three separate agencies into a single cohesive police force, which in turn is expected to be absorbed by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department by 2000.