On October 27 the Los Angeles Police Department arrested 44-year-old Michael Mendoza and seized thousands of rounds of ammo and 39 guns which he had allegedly stolen from storage facility and moved to another.
Mendoza is allegedly a gang member whom LAPD Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese said is “prohibited from gun possession.”
According to NBC Los Angeles, Chief Albanese said Mendoza was allegedly preparing to sell the gun to fellow gang members. Five of the 39 weapons were “five semi-automatic assault rifles.”
Albanese suggests Mendoza was not only planning to sell the guns, but was allegedly “poised to do so” even as the warrant for search and seizure was executed. He stressed that the guns and ammo “would have ended up on the streets of the San Fernando Valley, putting the public and law enforcement in danger.”
A second individual–44-year-old Edwin Arguera–was also arrested when police discovered a “no bail felony warrant” for him during the search process. Police believe “at least one of the suspects”–Mendoza or Arguera–“took part in several burglaries at public storage facilities in the area and [was] involved in credit card fraud.”
In addition to the guns and ammo, Police discovered “a pound of methamphetamine, 2,500 cash and a credit-card making machine believed to be used for identity theft.”
Albanese criticized the fact that the guns were in a storage facility to begin with, saying, “This inventory of firearms does not belong in a storage facility.” He stressed that guns need to be locked up in a gun safe at owners’ homes.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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