DeFede

JACKSONVILLE (CBS4) ―
Although more than a year had passed since Thomas Kiffney had done business with the man identifying himself as Kevin Wehner, he never forgot his name. So when the gun shop owner received a phone call in June 2007 from the ATF Trace Center outside of Washington about one of the rifles he had sold Wehner, he immediately got an uneasy feeling.

If a gun is used in the commission of a serious or violent crime, local police will ask ATF to track down the history of the weapon using the serial number. The weapon ATF was interested in was one of the SKS assault rifles Kiffney had sold to LaBeet. The ATF agent wouldn't tell Kiffney why they were suddenly interested, only that the gun had recently been "recovered."

    For the second time, Kiffney passed along all of his information about Kevin Wehner.

    Black, who spent years in law enforcement before becoming a security expert, said more than likely the gun was used in connection with another murder or shooting. Black suspects LaBeet either gave or sold the gun to someone who used it in a crime.

    With Kiffney's call to the ATF in 2006 and the Trace Center's interest in 2007, Black said the ATF had "an escalating number of warning signs" that should have caught someone's attention.

    "It's one thing when you get a complaint from a citizen who is guessing," he said. "But here is an experienced police officer, a sergeant with the Monroe County Sheriff's Department, who calls and faxes ATF on two different occasions. They should have done something. They should have tracked those guns. They should have been looking for this guy."

    On August 17, 2007, Wehner applied for a Florida driver's license at the local DMV office in Jacksonville, but the clerk refuses to issue him a license saying there already is a Kevin Foston Wehner in the system. Wehner explains that the other man is an imposter. The clerk asked him to fill out a piece of paper asking the department to conduct a fraud investigation.

    The DMV official showed Wehner a picture of what the other Kevin Wehner looked like. Wehner studied LaBeet's picture on the computer. After almost four years, Wehner said he finally got to see the face of the man who had made his life so miserable.

    "They asked me to take a picture so that they would have my actual picture on file with this report saying that someone else was using my identification," Wehner recalled.

    Major Ernie Duarte, with the Florida Highway Patrol, confirmed the picture of Wehner was taken as part of the DMV's fraud investigation to try and determine who was using Wehner's name in South Florida.

    Miami-Dade police officers Jose Somohano and Chris Carlin were in an unmarked police car, conducting surveillance, trying to catch to catch those responsible for a rash of burglaries in the south end of the county, when they spotted a red Buick LaSabre driving erratically. They followed the car into the Sea Pines residential complex where the driver, Shawn LaBeet, parked and then jumped over a wooden fence into the backyard.

    Somohano and Carlin moved around to the front of the house where they saw a woman, Renee D'Angelo, pull up with two small children. They asked her who drove the red Buick, and she told them, "Kevin." As Carlin made his way around to the back of the house, Somohano was guarding the front. Without warning, LaBeet, who had run inside the house to retrieve his Norinco MAK 90 assault rifle, began firing through the front window, mortally wounding Somohano.

    Hearing the gunfire, Carlin returned to the front of the house and was shot in the leg by LaBeet. As LaBeet continued to spray the area with bullets, Officers Jody Wright and Tomas Tundidor arrived and were both immediately shot. Witnesses said LaBeet appeared to be wearing a bullet proof vest. LaBeet then climbed into D'Angelo's car and drove off, leaving her and their two young children behind.

    When police questioned her, they said D'Angelo identified the shooter as her boyfriend, Kevin Wehner. Police ran the tag on the Buick and it came back to Kevin Wehner.

    At 1:16 p.m., Linda O'Brien,  commander of  Miami-Dade Police Department's media relations bureau, held up a picture of  Kevin Wehner – the real Kevin Wehner – and said, "This is our suspect."

She was followed to the microphone by Miami Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez. "We need the community's assistance in locating this extremely dangerous individual," he said, holding up a picture of Wehner.
Miami Dade Police pulled the real picture Wehner off the DMV database without checking or comparing it to the other photos in the system that showed LaBeet.

    Every local TV station, as well as all of the national cable networks, kept Wehner's name and face plastered on their TV screens for hours. Hundreds of local, state and federal agents, were on the move looking for the man who had cut down four fellow officers.

    Thomas Kiffney, however, was in his gun shop, oblivious to what was happening, when he received a call from an ATF agent who wanted to know everything he could remember about Kevin Wehner. "I asked her what was wrong," he said. "We didn't even know about the shooting at that point. And at first she said she couldn't tell me. Then she said I'd probably figure it out anyway and I should just turn on my TV."

    Kiffney grabbed the remote and turned on the television in the store. TV stations were reporting that Kevin Wehner was wanted for killing a police officer and wounding three others. Kiffney immediately recognized the name but the picture, he says, was wrong.

    "I was still on the phone with the ATF agent and I told her that wasn't the guy who had bought the guns from me," Kiffney recalled. "Either it was the wrong picture or they were looking for a different Kevin Wehner."
    Kiffney doesn't recall what time this took place, but said "it was early on." The agent said she would pass the information along.

    In Jacksonville, Wehner's phone was ringing nonstop from family members and friends who were in disbelief. His mother called in tears. "She was crying and shaking," he said.

    Wehner said he wasn't sure what to do. He was afraid the police were going to treat him like a cop killer. "It immediately made me feel very afraid for the safety of myself and my family," he said.

    Some of his relatives tried contacting the Miami-Dade police to let them know they were looking for the wrong man. Wehner decided the best thing to do would be to call the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. He dialed 911 and asked them to send an officer out to his house so that he could prove he couldn't have shot those officers in Miami.  He said several officers arrived a few minutes later, guns drawn. They placed him in the back of a police car.

    It would be almost four hours before the name and likeness of the real killer was released.

    Although he was cleared, he said there is still a stigma attached to having his  name and face associated with the murder of a police officer. A job offer to work as a fork lift operator at the port in Jacksonville was withdrawn, and he has spent the last few weeks working for a company delivering phone books door-to-door.

    He said the police have treated him with suspicion, trying to establish some sort of a link between himself and LaBeet. He said there is none.

    A few weeks ago, around 11 p.m., Miami-Dade detectives came to his house unannounced when he wasn't home and tried to question his wife. "When they came they were trying to tell my wife that you guys shouldn't pursue any lawsuits," Wehner said, "and that a lot of people are going to get  hurt and you should just let it go."

    Wehner said he hasn't decided if he'll sue.

    Miami Dade Police spokesman Linda O'Brien refused to comment, issuing a statement that read "…we will not discuss particulars regarding Shawn LaBeet, or the theft of Mr. Wehner's identity, as we wish to preserve the integrity of the pending criminal case(s) against LaBeet's girlfriend and the other three accomplices that rendered him assistance."

    Last week, Wehner packed up his family's belongings and loaded them on a truck. He's had it with Florida and he is moving his family back to New York. The night before he left, he sat in his living room shaking his head at everything that has occurred. "It's time to put these things behind me," he said, "and that's what I'm trying to do."

    He recently discovered that LaBeet ran up $40,000 in medical bills under his name and he has to find a way to get that off his credit history. He said so much damage could have been avoided if someone in government had taken the warning signs seriously.

    "I just wish they had done their jobs," Wehner offered, more sad than angry. "It would have saved those officers' lives and it would have saved me from going through what I am going through right now. I feel bad for those police officers, but I'm still here and I give thanks."

    In a final twist, two weeks after the shooting, Wehner received a bill in the mail from Southeast Towing demanding $536 for towing and storage charges for the red Buick LaSabre LaBeet drove on the day of the shooting. The Miami-Dade Police had the car impounded, and the towing company sent Wehner the bill. He's still fighting it.

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