Santa Ana : Three Plead Guilty to U.S. Weapons Charges
Three Orange County men pleaded guilty Tuesday in Los Angeles to federal weapons charges stemming from the seizure of 31 automatic weapons and homemade silencers from a Santa Ana garage.
Michael Butler and Ronald Zorola, both 32 and from Santa Ana, and Steven Johnston, 32, of Costa Mesa admitted that they possessed the weapons, including Uzi and Mac-10 assault rifles.
Butler, who is awaiting sentencing on similar weapons charges in Orange County Superior Court, told U.S. Dist. Judge David Kenyon that he bought the parts to make the silencers at gun swap meets, “over the counter, in front of everybody.”
Each man faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Acting on an informant’s tip, Costa Mesa police asked agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to help them investigate the trio’s alleged cache of weapons.
In mid-October, using a court-ordered search warrant for Butler’s home and garage, the agents recovered the 31 guns and silencers, including three fully automatic machine guns, according to court records.
Assistant U.S. Atty. Mark Bonner said that the ultimate use of the weapons seized was “something of a mystery,” adding that the men apparently did not belong to any paramilitary group.
“Even if you are a gun nut, you wouldn’t have this many guns,” said Bonner. Kenyon set a Feb. 10 sentencing date.
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