LAPD Veteran Gets 21 Months for Gun Violations
An eight-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department was fined $7,500 and sentenced to 21 months in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to illegal possession of a machine gun, machine pistol and silencer.
Former West Valley Officer Michael Alexander Edelstein, 31, was arrested in July after the weapons were found in his Canoga Park home during a search by federal agents. Edelstein, who was subsequently fired from the Police Department, pleaded for leniency before U.S. District Court Judge W. Matthew Byrne Jr., insisting that his intent in owning the illegal weapons was never criminal. His attorney, Donald J. Calabria, said that the weapons were part of a collection.
Byrne, however, argued that Edelstein clearly knew that he was violating the law. Edelstein received the minimum sentence allowable under federal guidelines for the charges against him. He could have received up to 27 months.
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