Irvine : 4 Plead Not Guilty to Arms-Sale Counts

An Irvine businessman and three others pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of conspiracy and attempting to illegally export weapons, allegedly to what they thought was a Mexican drug cartel.

The two U.S. citizens and two Mexican nationals made their pleas during an arraignment before Magistrate Barry Moskowitz in U.S. District Court in San Diego.

The four were indicted last week by a federal grand jury after officials seized 97 Chinese-made AK-47 assault rifles Aug. 8 in San Diego.

The four people named in the indictment are Jose Luis Rodriguez, 27, a naturalized U.S. citizen living in San Diego; Adam Danile Hahn, 25, of Irvine; Mario Lopez-Gutierrez, a resident alien living in Chula Vista, and Enrique Gobea-Rabago, 25, an illegal alien living in San Diego.

Hahn is the only one currently free on $150,000 property bond, but Assistant U.S. Atty. David L. Katz said he expects Rodriguez to be released this weekend.

The four will appear again in federal court Sept. 5, when a judge will set a trial date.

The two-count indictment alleges that the semiautomatic rifles were legally purchased before passage of the federally mandated restrictions on assault rifles, and that Hahn, part owner of Guns ‘N’ Stuff in Orange County, agreed to sell the unregistered weapons to his co-defendants, who allegedly thought they were going to sell the guns to Mexico-based drug lords.

Federal agents had arranged to purchase the rifles from Lopez and Rodriguez for $700 each. Also involved in the deal were 8,000 rounds of ammunition, according to investigators.

If convicted of both counts, each defendant would face 15 years in federal prison and a $500,000 fine.