The Orange County Criminal Lawyer Blog
After the authorities received information that a felon residing in Agua Dulce had a sizeable amount of ammunition and weapons in his possession they uncovered what they identified as a large arsenal in the suspect’s residence.
Manuel Fernandez, a 60-year-old man, lives in Agua Dulce, California, where he allegedly keeps several hundreds of firearms and pieces of ammunition despite the fact that he has a prior felony conviction disallowing him from owning the weaponry.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Station located in Palmdale was provided with a report about Fernandez regarding the suspicion of what he keeps stored inside of his dwelling.
On the morning of Thursday, June 14, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives joined detectives from the sheriff’s station and the California Department of Justice in serving Fernandez with a warrant granting them permission to search the contents of his home.
Over 400 firearms such as rifles, shotguns, and handguns were found and taken into the possession of the authorities during the inspection of Fernandez’s residence. Some of the items were reportedly identified as antiques.
The following day authorities returned to Fernandez’s home and allegedly found that 91 weapons were still stashed in hidden places, in addition to computers and other technology they suspect was used in the process of illegally procuring the cache.
Investigators are currently trying to use the devices they collected in order to find the source of the purchases.
Between the two visits to Fernandez’s dwelling, a total of 523 weapons were confiscated by the authorities.
Fernandez was taken into custody and booked on suspicion of being a felon in possession of firearms, a felon in possession of ammunition, and possession of large capacity of magazines. He was held in jail ward of Los Angeles County Medical Center in lieu of $35,000 bail and paid the bond amount on Friday resulting in his release.
At this point, it has been reported that Fernandez appears to be a collector of firearms and was not intending to use them for illegal activities.
Photo credit: Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
Fernandez is scheduled to appear on July 9 at the Antelope Valley Superior Court regarding the charges.
If you or someone you love is suspected of weapon possession, contact Orange County criminal defense lawyer Staycie R. Sena at (949) 477-8088 for a consultation now.