Feds: Man stashed guns, turned family’s California vineyard into disorder ‘training camp’
A Southern California man held on federal weapons charges stored weapons at his family’s Lodi vineyard — a personal training camp to prep for civil disorder, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Benjamin Jong Ren Hung, 28, of San Marino near Pasadena faces an Oct. 15 arraignment in Los Angeles federal court following his arrest Wednesday on a single count of conspiracy to transport firearms across state lines and to make a false statement to acquire weapons.
The charges are tied to Hung’s May 31 arrest by Pasadena police after allegedly driving his truck through a crowd of protesters in Old Town Pasadena. No one was hurt, but Pasadena officers found a loaded semiautomatic handgun, numerous high-capacity ammunition magazines, an 18-inch machete and a long metal pipe stowed in the truck, U.S. Attorney’s officials said, citing a Pasadena police affidavit.
Federal authorities allege Hung got the weapon from a friend who bought it in Oregon then took the firearm across state lines into California. Hung allegedly kept the gun and at least three others bought in Oregon at his San Marino home.
U.S. Attorney’s officials say the weapons were part of a larger cache of firearms and tactical gear stowed at the family vineyard in Lodi that doubled as Hung’s training ground.
Hung’s parents, president and secretary of 157 California Reserve, based in San Marino, own a vineyard on North Davis Road near Lodi, and also purchased property at Turner and Lower Sacramento roads for a planned boutique hotel, apartments and retail space, according to the Lodi News-Sentinel.
Hung favored the vineyard’s “long, flat range to shoot,” and told friends he planned to build a bunker, the Lodi newspaper reported, citing the federal complaint.
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