Summary
Following the raid, there wasn’t a whole lot anyone of the York family could do other than wait. They didn’t know whether they would return with arrest warrants or anything else. William York’s son, Tyler, left the country for two years while serving a mission for his church three months after the raid. Nathan York, who’s property was taken while he was serving in the Marines in Iraq, had returned several months later. Throughout this time, phone calls to Lori Dyer or Sonja Everitt yielded no substantial response. The York family was given a response of nothing more than “It’s still being investigated.”
Attempts to retrieve the Affidavit that was used by the ATF to obtain a warrant were stonewalled. Civil rights attorney’s were uninterested to go to court over the issue and had no confidence in a positive judicial outcome. U.S. legislators were more interested in pursuing their own agenda’s than following up to new, unpublicized events such as this.
In late 2011, Tyler York made contact with the Resident Agent in charge of the Salt Lake City Field Office. At that point, it appears that the entire previous group of ATF agents were no longer stationed in that office. Jerome Sharpe was now the agent in charge. The case against William York or anyone involved with the property taken had been dormant. Agent Sharpe worked with Tyler York to release his personal property back to him. In March of 2012, most other items (computers, some firearms and other documents) were released back to William York. The ATF is still holding on to some NFA firearms and are pending a final outcome.
Events
Raid – October 2007
Raid Narration by Tyler York – October 2007
Post-Raid photos of Home and Warehouse – October 2007
Contact Attempts – 2007 to 2009
First contact with ATF Agent in charge Jerry Sharpe – Spring 2011
Affidavit Requests (multiple attempts over time)
Contact with new agents in ATF office in Salt Lake City – 2011
Discussion to retrieve property – 2011
Retrieval of half of property taken – January 2012
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Notice that property has been forfeited
Must prove to keep property taken
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Congressman Chaffetz office contacted – 2011
Senator Mike Lee office contacted – 2011
Senator Orrin Hatch contact attempt