NORTHRIDGE : Kmart Charged in Sale of Firearm
Kmart Corp. and an employee at the company’s Northridge store were charged Friday with selling a rifle to a man prohibited from buying firearms, the city attorney’s office said.
City Atty. James Hahn said that Lloyd Wiltfong, the assistant manager of the store, sold a Marlin .22-caliber rifle in November to a Granada Hills man convicted of battery in 1990 in Santa Barbara County.
That conviction makes the man, whose name was not released, ineligible to buy a gun.
Both the company and Wiltfong are charged with one count each of selling a firearm before the end of the mandatory 15-day waiting period and for failing to make sure that the purchase was not in violation of state or local law, the city attorney’s office said.
The Los Angeles Police Department began investigating upon notification by the California Department of Justice, which had checked the store’s report of sales against lists of people forbidden to buy guns. Investigators determined that the man bought the gun before the end of the waiting period, the city attorney’s office said.
Penalties could include a $1,000 fine or a year in jail.
Arraignment is set for March 21 in Van Nuys Municipal Court.
Kmart officials could not be reached for comment.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
