LAPD detective charged with trying to buy illegal gun silencer from China
Los Angeles: A Los Angeles Police Department detective on Tuesday became the first defendant in an indictment unsealed Wednesday charging him with illegally buying a silencer from China.
Hector Barajas, 52, faces up to five years in state prison after the indictment alleges that he bought two silencers — one with an illegal barrel length — for $250 from an undercover officer from China.
He was arrested by Los Angeles police in January after the undercover officer arranged to buy the silencers as part of a sting and arranged to sell the guns to Barajas through a Chinese gun shop, according to a complaint filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Barajas allegedly told the undercover officer that he used an internet search engine to find an Internet email address associated with an attorney that he knew that he could use to buy the silencers, according to the complaint.
The undercover officer contacted the attorney and scheduled an agreement that would allow Barajas to buy the silencers, which at the time were not legally available in the United States, the complaint alleges.
The undercover officer paid the attorney $25, with the understanding that the silencer from the attorney would be purchased for $400, according to the complaint.
The attorney then called Barajas and gave him the silencers from the internet email address that the undercover officer had provided and told him that he would send the silencers to Barajas, who was on vacation, the complaint alleges.
The undercover officer took the silencers in January and returned them to Barajas, who then gave the items to his son, according to the complaint.
A police search on the first day of his arrest found the two silencers and a list of Barajas’s cell phone numbers, according to the complaint.
Barajas was arrested the morning of January 15, but was allowed to post $2,500 bond at the time, according to the complaint. Barajas is scheduled to return to court on April 10.
The attorney who was allegedly providing a fake address for Baraj