City Council critic posts bail

CITY CENTER — A City Hall critic accused of violating an order against possessing a firearm and ammunition is out on a $35,000 bond posted Sunday, authorities said.

Edward Guerrero, 51, who was arrested last month, is scheduled to appear Oct. 19 in Pasadena Superior Court.

Guerrero was booked into Twin Towers Correctional Facility on suspicion of felony counts of possessing a firearm and ammunition.

County prosecutors charge that Guerrero was deemed to be a danger to others due to mental issues. As such, he was forbidden from possessing a firearm or other deadly weapon, said Jane Robison, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Guerrero on Monday said he was made to sign a slew of documents in April 2008 while he was a patient at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar. Among them was a pledge not to possess firearms, he said, adding that the contents were lost in a storage fire.

Hospital officials on Tuesday confirmed two large-scale fires at the facility.

The Olive View-UCLA Medical Center stay was prompted in part after calls to authorities that Guerrero was suicidal, he said.

Burbank police on Sept. 16 responded to his residence on the 200 block of South Glenwood Place after he allegedly left telephone messages stating he was having trouble with his landlord and neighbors.

Although police said Guerrero agreed to sit at the police station while officers searched his home, the critic maintains he was lured under the pretense of hashing out disagreements with his landlord.

Officers were met by Guerrero’s roommate, Aaron Read, who was cited for possession of illegal fireworks and later arrested after police ran a background check. Officers searched the premises and found a rifle and bag of ammunition allegedly belonging to Guerrero inside a living-room closet, police said.

He said the World War-II era rifle was so old that it needed special ammunition to fire.

His recent arrest was the latest turn in a rocky relationship with city executives.

In 2004, he was forcibly removed from the City Council Chambers by Burbank police Det. Joseph Dean and then-Police Chief Thomas Hoefel.

He was later convicted of resisting arrest and disrupting a council meeting.

And a Los Angeles Superior Court judge in 2005 sentenced Guerrero to 30 days in jail and ordered him to take anger management classes, stay away from council meetings and have no contact with city employees.

Guerrero said he is in the process of obtaining a private attorney.