LA County Sheriffs Department

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There Are Felons In Possession And Then There Is This!

June 20, 2018 by 6 Comments

It is against Federal law and most state laws to be a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. This would include possession of ammunition. Usually when a criminal is charged with being a felon in possession it is because they had used a firearm in the commission of another crime. Then there is Manuel Fernandez of Agua Dulce, California.

Fernandez had been convicted of a felony in February 2017 but was released in August. He had been sentenced to 486 days in jail on unspecified felony charges.

Fast forward to June 14th. The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department acted on a tip and raided Fernandez’s home outside of Palmdale. The tip said Fernandez had “an arsenal”. Normally, in California terms, that meant he had a Marlin Glenfield 60, a Ruger 10/22, and maybe a semi-broken revolver along with a couple of boxes of ammo.

LA County Sheriff’s Dept photo

In this case, I will freely admit that Fernandez did indeed have an arsenal by any stretch of the imagination.

LA County Sheriff’s Dept photo

The sheriff’s raid initially netted 432 firearms. They then got a warrant to search another house of a “female friend” a mile away and got another 30 firearms. However, they were not done. Returning to Fernandez’s residence, investigators found another 91 firearms hidden throughout the house and property. This brings the total to 553 firearms. In a quick scan of the photos, I see Mosins, Swiss K-31, Mausers, etc. He was an equal opportunity felon in possession it seems.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives is working with the LASD to trace these weapons. Investigators also seized computers, hard drives, and cell phones that they thought might have been used in Fernandez’s illegal firearms purchases.

LA County Sheriff’s Dept photo

Fernandez has been charged with being ” Felon in Possession of Firearms (129800(a)(1) PC), Possession of an Assault Rifle (32625(a) PC, Felon in Possession of Ammunition (30305(a) PC) and Possession of Large Capacity Magazines (32310(a) PC).” Believe it or not but Fernandez was released on bail the next day which I have confirmed through LASD records. Fernandez appears in court on July 9th on these charges.

I’m going to guess that if Fernandez is convicted he will serve more than the 486 days his first felony conviction was supposed to bring him.

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CalGuns Foundation Sues LA County Sheriff Over Carry Policy

March 10, 2012 by 1 Comment

The CalGuns Foundation filed suit yesterday in Los Angeles Superior Court against LA County Sheriff Lee Baca, the LA Sheriff’s Department, and LA County challenging the sheriff’s ban on accepting and processing carry licenses for city residents.

From their release:

THE CALGUNS FOUNDATION SUES LOS ANGELES COUNTY, SHERIFF LEE BACA

March 9, 2012 – San Carlos, CA

Continuing its Carry License Sunshine and Compliance Initiative, The Calguns Foundation (CGF) has filed a lawsuit today in Los Angeles Superior Court against Los Angeles Sheriff Leroy “Lee” Baca, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and Los Angeles County. The case, entitled Jennifer Lu, et al. v. County of Los Angeles, et al., challenges the Sheriff’s ban on accepting and processing applications for carry licenses submitted by city residents.

The Calguns Foundation is joined in the lawsuit, by three individual plaintiffs.

“Sheriff Baca made the unfortunate decision to repeat historical failure,” noted GF Chairman Gene Hoffman. “Apparently, the Sheriff and County do not feel bound to follow the precedent they set when the California Court of Appeals ruled against them in 1976. We look forward to refreshing their memory.”

In the case of Salute v. Pitchess, the Court held that “[i]t is the duty of the sheriff to make . . . an investigation and determination, on an individual basis, on every application” for a handgun carry license. Then-Los Angeles Sheriff Peter Pitchess had “a fixed policy of not granting applications . . . except in a limited number of cases.”

California requires that people who desire to carry a handgun for self defense be licensed by the sheriff of the county in which they reside, or, at the applicants’ option, they can apply to their city’s chief of police. However, sheriffs cannot require applicants to first apply to and be denied by a city’s chief of police as a prerequisite to application.

“The State of California very intentionally established a standardized carry license framework: if you’re a sheriff, you have a duty to administer the carry license program for all residents of your county,” clarified Brandon Combs, an officer of CGF and director of the Carry License Initiative. “Sheriff Baca’s intent in enforcing these unlawful regulations is quite clear: make it as difficult as possible for law-abiding residents of Los Angeles County to defend their lives and those of their families. Not only does he treat some deserving applicants differently than others, he uses the rejections by cities’ chiefs of police – that his policy requires – as evidence against the applicants when they apply to him.”

“Jennifer Lu and the other plaintiffs have every reason to desire a handgun carry license, not the least of which is that it is their fundamental right under the Constitution as Federal courts in both West Virginia and Maryland ruled earlier this week,” said Jason Davis, attorney for the plaintiffs. “Sheriff Baca is circumventing state and constitutional law, and we’re confident that this case will bear that out.”

A copy of the complaint and case filings can be downloaded at
http://calgunsfoundation.org/resources/downloads/file/73-lu-v-baca-complaint.html.

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Project Isaiah -Arrrrgh!

July 26, 2010 by

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will take 8,300 confiscated firearms to Tamco Steel Mill tomorrow and turn them into rebar. And they seem to be very proud of themselves over it. Deputy Bill Brauberger describes the event as a celebration and says, “It’s pretty exciting and very visual”.

Picture of the 2009 Project Isaiah
The LA Times story shows a picture of Sheriff Lee Baca holding a stainless Ruger Mini-14 which will be turned into rebar. Checking the price of this on Gunbroker.com, I find prices ranging from about $400 up to about $1,000. So they will be taking high grade steel and turning it into rebar which is utterly stupid. Moreover, the rebar will be used for upgrades to highways and bridges in California, Nevada, and Arizona. 
Arizona? I thought LA was boycotting Arizona over their immigration enforcement bill SB 1070.
No one said governments in California were smart. If they were then they would be making use of companies like this or this one that does auctions for the City of Anchorage.

UPDATE: Of course Project Isaiah makes some fools happy.