Expressing concern for public safety, a judge Friday said he wants more information before he will rule on whether Los Angeles police can release for sale to a licensed firearms dealer about 850 weapons once owned by a con man who said he had ties to well-known politicians.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Cowan told attorneys during a hearing in the estate of Jeffrey Lash that he is not sure if allowing the weapons, some of them described by Cowan as sophisticated, to be transferred to a licensed firearms dealer is a better solution than ordering the guns destroyed.
“This is a very strange case and I need to have more factual information,” Cowan said. “I don’t want to have people hurt by these weapons.”
In October 2016, Michelle Lyons and Catherine Nebron, who had romantic relationships with Lash, sued the Lash estate and its two representatives, Sanford Sheklow and Leslie Parness. Both women later settled their cases with the estate.
Nebron and Parness support the release of the weapons to 57-year-old William John Murphy of Yorba Linda, owner of Gulf Tactical International LLC. Sheklow’s attorney, Gary Ruttenberg, said the proceeds from the sales will be distributed to the estate and its heirs.
Veteran Los Angeles homicide detective Barry Telis submitted a sworn statement favoring the transfer of the weapons to Murphy. He said his check of an ATF data base showed Lash bought all the guns legally and that none were connected to crimes.
“The Los Angeles Police Department is amenable to releasing the firearms and ammunition to William John Murphy,” Telis stated, adding that the items would be transferred by Murphy to a secured facility “via armed convoy.”
Lash died at age 60 on July 4, 2015, according to authorities said. His decomposing body was found in an SUV owned by Nebron that was parked near her Pacific Palisades condominium.
Lash reportedly was fiercely private, rarely used his real name and never explained to those around him exactly what he did for a living.
Los Angeles police said that in addition to the firearms, they found tons of ammunition and $230,000 in cash in his condo.
According to Lyons’ suit, she had a longtime romantic relationship with Lash that began in 1984. He moved into Lyons’ one- bedroom apartment in 1986 after claiming he lost his own home due to a “terrorist act” and had spent his entire fortune “trying to end the terrorist group,” according to Lyons’ court papers.
The two lived together for 12 years, Lyons’ suit states. She says that during their relationship, they had numerous verbal agreements in which she bought numerous items for Lash, ranging from firearms and ammunitions to food and clothing.
“In return, (Lash) promised that he would repay the sums expended,” the suit says. “Specifically, (Lash) promised that he was expecting to receive significant sums of money as a result of his profession as a government operative and that upon receipt of such sums he would repay (Lyons) the sums expended plus interest.”
To convince Lyons to make purchases on his behalf, Lash told her he was an independent contractor with “government contacts and connections” to former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Vice President Joseph Biden, according to her lawsuit.
Lash also intimidated Lyons by saying her refusal to buy items for him would subject her to physical and emotional harm, she said. He told her that if she did not help him as he requested that he would die, according to her lawsuit.
Lyons says she “became his emotional hostage” and continued to feel bound to Lash even after he began living with Nebron. Lyons went to Nebron’s home nightly and continued as before to provide goods and cash to Lash, her suit stated.
In reality, Lash was “a con man, lying and deceiving (Lyons) and using her for his own financial gain and benefit,” her suit stated. Within months of his death, she found out that he was “involved in romantic relationships with multiple women and that he had been using aliases and assumed names to avoid detection of his lies,” according to Lyons’ lawsuit.
Lash “was not employed with a government agency and had been lying to her about his employment for their entire relationship,” the suit stated.
Nebron’s suit stated that her father was a judge and that her godfather was the late Sen. Alan Cranston.
“Lash, knowing her family background in politics, fraudulently claimed to have had telephone calls and other communications with retired Gen. David Petraeus, former President George W. Bush, ex-Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, former first lady Laura Bush and other prominent political and national security figures,” the Nebron suit stated.
Nebron said she was owed $2.5 million for expenses she incurred on Lash’s behalf, including a $1.2 million advance of cash.
“He convinced Catherine and others that he was an undercover agent of some sort and that she should give him substantial amounts of money …,” Nebron’s court papers stated.