INDIANAPOLIS, IN (WXIN/CNN) - An Indiana man is accusing a stripper of stealing his guns. He says the woman, who he knew in passing, showed up at his door last winter without a coat and shivering.
Over his wife's objections, he let the woman move in. But now, he blames her for taking more than a dozen weapons from his home. "And that's another thing...don't let strippers in your house,” said a now-wiser Billy Swaggerty, the gun owner.
Swaggerty learned that lesson too late after a letting a young woman sleep for months in the spare bedroom where he kept all his guns. "And it came back and bit me. I have handguns or had handguns, assault weapons, 22s, shotguns. I like them all,” he said.
In all, 16 guns were stolen by somebody who kicked in his back door last May and knew where his guns were locked up. “I didn't buy a quality safe. Yeah it was steel but it was thin steel. Also, I didn't bolt it to the floor. And that was a main issue right there,” he said.
Recent federal statistics show millions of new guns are added to America's arsenal every year. Through Aug. 31, local officials reported 555 cases of stolen guns in the city, about half of those coming from vehicles often left unlocked.
"I think the proliferation of guns is connected to the increase in murders that Indiana has experienced, which I think is up 4.1 percent in the last year,” said Jody Lynee Madeira, an Indiana University law professor.
That's what has Swaggerty worried. "My worst fear is one of my guns is gonna kill a child,” he said.
Police say the investigation is still open and they may have some good leads. Swaggerty says he thinks he knows the name of the man who ended up with his guns.
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