Man Freed on $100,000 Bail in Weapons Case
An Idaho man jailed in Los Angeles for several weeks on charges of trying to sell federal undercover agents five military cannons each capable of firing 1,200 explosive projectiles a minute was ordered released on $100,000 bail Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Audrey B. Collins declined prosecutors’ request to hold Steven L. Picatti, 53, indefinitely as a flight risk and public danger, ruling, however, that he must remain in California pending trial.
Agents of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the U.S. Customs Service have alleged that Picatti thought they were connected with a Colombian drug cartel when he offered to sell them the cannons for $36,000.
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