Crescenta Valley Men Accused of Weapons Dealing

Two Crescenta Valley-area men were indicted Tuesday on suspicion of illegally possessing 400 guns for sale, including a banned machine gun, authorities said.

Arthur S. Kabadaian, 40, of La Crescenta and Larry Lenenberg, 46, of Tujunga were named in a 12-count indictment charging them with conspiracy to deal in firearms without a license, dealing in firearms without a license and transferring a machine gun, said Jerome Friedberg, the assistant U.S. attorney handling the case.

The weapons were found Jan. 24 during the execution of a search warrant at Kabadaian’s home by agents with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Los Angeles Police Department’s anti-terrorist division and the Pasadena Police Department’s Special Investigation Section, Friedberg said.

In October, the two men sold four 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistols to an ATF agent for $3,500, according to the indictment. In November, the men again sold the agent a 9-millimeter with machine-gun conversion parts for the same price.

In January, they allegedly agreed to sell six revolvers, an Uzi carbine and a Japanese machine gun for $49,300 to two undercover LAPD detectives and an ATF agent.

Friedberg declined to say how the investigation of the pair began.

They were arrested and released on bond pending their arraignment, scheduled for Monday.

If convicted, they could face a maximum of 10 years in federal prison, three years supervised release and a $250,000 fine per count, Friedberg said.

Kabadaian is named in 11 of the counts and Lenenberg is named in five.