NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WVEC) — Millions of packages are shipped each day across the world, but not all make it to their final destination.
Former police detective Dinah Balthis ordered a tactical shotgun from an out-of-state dealer that never made it to its intended location.
“The fact that I didn’t know where that shotgun was, it just made me sick to my stomach. What if this had turned out to be something different. Some little kid, or a convicted felon got a hold of it?” said Balthis.
The gun she ordered was supposed to arrive at Tacticool Firearms. No one from Tacticool Firearms called Balthis, even though FedEx said the package had been delivered.
“Anytime you purchase a firearm online, you have to have it shipped to what’s called a FFL-Federal Firearms License dealer. The FLL will contact you when the firearm is delivered to their business and you have to go and fill out state and federal forms,” said Balthis.
She said the gun ended up at a sex shop on J. Clyde Morris Boulevard in Newport News. That shop, The Love Shack, is about a 15-minute drive from the firearms dealer.
Love Shack sales associate Joby King told us a lot of the boxes had regular merchandise in them.
“26 boxes that we got in, so that was a really big shipment for us that week. The box that was delivered here actually looked like one of our dancing poles,” said King.
She didn’t realize that one of the boxes held the 12-gauge shotgun, until FedEx showed up to take it back.
As for Balthis, she says there needs to be a change.
“Is this process properly regulated or does there need to be more done to ensure that when a firearm is shipped from a vendor or a manufacturer it’s tracked very carefully all the way to the FFL,” said Balthis.
Balthis is now in possession of her firearm.
When we reached out to FedEx, this was their reply:
“We are looking into this matter and will work with our customer to resolve it. FedEx does not publicly discuss information about customer shipments.”