Santa Ana : Suspect in Gun Sales Faces New Investigation

A sporting goods store owner arrested on federal charges of falsifying gun sale records also is under investigation by Santa Ana police for allegedly soliciting the murder of a local businessman, spokesmen for police and the U. S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said Wednesday.

Walter Cha, 37, an Irvine resident, surrendered Tuesday and was brought before a federal magistrate in Santa Ana on charges of falsifying records in connection with three sales of paramilitary-style semiautomatic weapons, said ATF spokesman Doug Gray.

Santa Ana police spokeswoman Maureen Thomas said police also intend to ask the Orange County district attorney’s office today or Friday to file an additional charge of solicitation of murder.

Cha, also known as Wan Do Cha, was being held on $250,000 bail in Terminal Island Federal Correctional Institution, Thomas said. His attorney, J. Cha of Los Angeles, declined to comment.

Walter Cha has been under investigation by the criminal-intelligence unit of the Santa Ana Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms for three months, Thomas said. He had been sought by authorities since July 24, when two of his employees were arrested and gun sale records seized at his Central Sporting Goods, 316 West 4th St., Gray said.

Employees Rodrigo Ramos, 29, and Hae Hung Pak, 28, are also being held at Terminal Island, charged with falsification of federal records, Thomas said. Bail was set at $25,000 for Ramos and $5,000 for Pak, she said.

Thomas said Santa Ana police were called in when federal investigators learned of the alleged murder solicitation.

Thomas said that on July 14, 1986, “Cha hired an undercover federal agent to murder a local Korean businessman and assault employees of two rival businesses.”

Authorities declined to identify the targets of the alleged violence or the motive.

The charges of falsifying federal gun sale records are felonies and carry a five-year, $5,000 sentence upon conviction.

Thomas and Gray said Cha was a party to “straw man sales” of weapons that records showed were made to legally authorized buyers, when in fact the firearms were sold to persons unable to buy them legally. Firearms may not be sold to persons lacking valid identification or with felony convictions or who attempt to avoid legal registration procedures, Thomas said.

“He (Cha) was clearly aware of what was going on,” Gray said.