RESEDA : 2 Men Arrested in Theft of 500 Pistols

Two 19-year-old men were arrested Wednesday in Reseda for selling more than 500 semiautomatic pistols worth an estimated $300,000 to undercover detectives, the Pasadena Police Department said.

Travis Falconer, 19, of Reseda and Andrew Radzik, 19, of Mission Viejo were taken into custody about 11 a.m. at Falconer’s home in the 6500 block of Balcom Avenue, said Lt. Jerry Schultze. Both were armed, he said.

Just before the arrests, undercover Pasadena detectives posing as drug dealers negotiated a deal to purchase more than 500 pistols from the men for $72,000, said Charles Pratt, agent in charge of the Van Nuys office of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms.

Pasadena police had learned that Falconer and Radzik sold guns during a six-week narcotics investigation in Pasadena, Schultze said.

The 26-hour operation began when the detectives arranged to buy three semiautomatic handguns worth an estimated $1,500 on Tuesday in a Burbank parking lot, Schultze said. The detectives arranged to purchase more than 500 additional guns from the men Wednesday.

Pasadena and federal officers arrested Falconer and Radzik without incident as they loaded guns into an unmarked police van outside Falconer’s Reseda home, Schultze said.

Authorities seized bags of guns and a 3-foot-by-3-foot wooden crate filled with firearms from the house, Schultze said. Guns seized included Smith & Wesson, Colt and Beretta .45 caliber and 9 millimeter handguns.

The guns are believed to have been stolen from Pony Express Guns & Archery in Mission Hills, which was burglarized of an estimated 450 guns Monday night, Detective Robert Muldrew of the Los Angeles Police Department said.

Falconer and Radzik were in federal custody Tuesday pending state charges of possession of stolen guns and burglary and federal charges of unlicensed dealing in firearms, dealing in stolen firearms and for being armed in the commission of a felony, Pratt said.