Six men have been arrested and charged with being part of a group that used stolen cars to ram gun stores across Southern California and grab a total of more than 300 firearms — about a third of them from stores in San Diego County.
The nine-month spree includes the theft of 78 guns from a Poway store, and another 33 from an Oceanside shop, according to federal authorities and court filings The spree included a failed attempt at a Fallbrook gun store last month.
In each heist, masked thieves plowed a stolen car into the front of the gun store, stormed inside and swiped dozens of firearms. They’d ditch the stolen vehicle at the scene and hop into a second car to get away. The March 25 burglary at Poway Weapons and Gear took four minutes. The June 17 heist at Firearms Unknown in Oceanside lasted two minutes.
Some of the firearms were sold on the black market and some were recovered in separate criminal investigations, according to Ciaran McEvoy, spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, which is prosecuting the case.
Four of the accused men, including two brothers, are from Lake Elsinore. A fifth man is from Murrieta, and the sixth is from Las Vegas. They range in age from 18 to 23 years old.
The men are being charged with conspiracy to steal the weapons from the premises of federal firearms licensees, including stores in Riverside, Murrieta and Camarillo. They could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted, McEvoy said.
A photo of stolen handguns taken after suspects burglarized Poway Weapons and Gear on March 25, 2024 (U.S. Attorney’s Office)
Related Articles
More than 50 guns stolen from California store after burglars use car to ram security gates
Smash-and-grab robbers take $500,000 in items from Berkeley jewelry store
Arrest made in string of thefts from San Mateo clothing store
More than 70 teens detained after disturbance at California mall
Gov. Newsom drops anti-crime measure days after announcing it
Authorities said there were three failed heists over the last month, including one in Ontario, one in Simi Valley and a June 13 attempt at Fallbrook Guns and Ammo in Fallbrook.
Several hours after the most recent theft Saturday in Orange, federal authorities served a search warrant at the Lake Elsinore home of the two brothers, who tried to run out of the back door when federal officers showed up, prosecutors said.
A search of the home turned up 45 firearms stolen from the Orange store, prosecutors said. Investigators also found four other guns from earlier thefts in the spree, including one firearm stolen from the Poway shop.
The affidavit included several screenshots of guns and cash on an Instagram account believed to belong to one of the Lake Elsinore suspects.
After the Poway Weapons and Gear heist, authorities quickly tracked the getaway vehicle to a home in Las Vegas, the affidavit says. Before the end of the day, they had recovered 35 of the guns, but 43 remained missing, according to a court document from a related case.
Five more firearms stolen from Poway were recovered by Los Angeles police in unrelated incidents in Los Angeles and San Pedro, the affidavit says.
Union-Tribune staff writer Teri Figueroa contributed to this report.