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First federal conviction in 15 years of civilian retail gun owner connected to police corruption [1]

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Date: 2022-09-13

Former captain Garmo was able to use a loophole in California gun law, allowing law enforcement the ability to purchase newer firearms the public didn’t necessarily have access to, to make “straw purchases” for himself that he subsequently sold off to others. Tilotta’s Honey Badger Firearms procured the firearms for Garmo. According to the press release:

Tilotta committed these crimes through his licensed firearms dealer, Honey Badger Firearms in Kearney Mesa, despite an explicit warning he received from the California Department of Justice in December 2015 advising him to avoid allowing straw purchases at his business. Emails admitted at trial indicated that, instead, Tilotta directed Hamel and Garmo to create sham emails to cover up the straw purchases they conducted at Honey Badger.

KPBS reports that Tilotta’s machinations were used in order to both cover up the sale of “off-roster” guns to private citizens that those citizens were not allowed to own under any circumstances; as well as backdating paperwork in order to get around gun regulatory issues like an individual having a restraining order against them.

Garmo’s reach was far more extensive than just gun-running. He was also convicted of profound corruption in regard to local marijuana dispensaries. The 27-year veteran police officer retired from the force shortly before being indicted along with Tilotta and Hamel, local resident Waiel Yousif Anton, and San Diego County sheriff's deputy Fred Magana. Magana plead guilty to the charges against him in 2020, and subsequently retired from the force, ending an 18-year-career.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/9/13/2122632/-First-federal-conviction-in-15-years-of-civilian-retail-gun-owner-connected-to-police-corruption

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