ysr_racer
Member
http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/o...AL&subsection=LOCAL&year=2003&month=11&day=26
Weapons seizure a state record
Discovery at a Laguna Niguel shooting range and gun shop includes 79 assault rifles. Owner's son is arrested.
By JOHN McDONALD
The Orange County Register
A raid on a Laguna Niguel shooting range and gun shop has yielded the largest haul of illegal assault weapons ever seized in California, officials reported Tuesday.
Ilya Yampolsky, 38, of Laguna Niguel was arrested on 58 felony violations of state firearms laws. He is the son of Valentina Yampolsky, owner of On Target Shooting Range, 27692 Camino Capistrano.
The son is accused of illegally offering to sell the assault weapons at the shop and on the Internet.
The seizure was the largest since the state banned assault weapons in 1989.
The case started with an anonymous tip that led state investigators to inspect On Target on Nov. 19. They found two assault rifles, with price tags attached, offered for sale inside a display case, officials said.
The subsequent search and investigation led to the seizure of 79 assault rifles, three assault pistols, seven assault shotguns, one rifle packaged with two grenade launchers and 19 illegal tracer rounds, said Tom Dresslar, a spokesman for the California Attorney General's Office.
Tracer rounds are used for aiming automatic fire at night and are illegal in California.
Also found was a grenade with a fuse and pin. The Orange County Sheriff's Department bomb squad determined that the grenade was inert.
Ilya Yampolsky is accused of 33 counts of possessing unregistered assault weapons, 21 counts of possessing destructive devices and four counts of offering assault weapons for sale. He was released on bail and could not be reached for comment.
A woman who identified herself as Valentina Yampolsky hung up on a reporter Tuesday.
"The illegal sale of firearms is the No. 1 reason criminals are able to become armed and dangerous," California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said at a Los Angeles news conference held to announce the seizure. "Anyone who witnessed the North Hollywood shootout in 1997 knows that when placed in the wrong hands, these military-style assault weapons represent a tremendous threat to officers and public safety in California."
Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said after the news conference that many of the weapons seized are supposed to be only in the hands of military and law enforcement personnel.
"Dangerous weapons mixed with equally dangerous people create and explosive time bomb," Rackauckas said.
The district attorney said that he has a deputy authorized to prosecute gun cases in either state or federal court and that the latest case will go where the offenses carry the toughest sentence.
Investigators found evidence that 59 assault weapons registered to Yampolsky have not been accounted for and may have been sold, Dresslar said. There is no information on who may have purchased the weapons.
Anybody with information on the whereabouts of the weapons is asked to call the attorney general's firearms hot line at (916) 263-4887.
Some of the weapons seized had been registered to Yampolsky, but 33 were unregistered. The registered weapons can be legally possessed in California but cannot be sold within the state or on the Internet.
Yampolsky is not licensed to sell guns, officials said. His mother has a license to sell firearms but not assault weapons.
A few customers were at the shooting range Tuesday afternoon, and a team of Boy Scouts was booked to shoot later.
The shop had hundreds of guns for sale, including rifles, pistols and shotguns, but nothing that appeared to be an assault rifle.
Employees declined to comment.
One customer, Jake Beagle, 28, of Dana Point, said he shoots at the range three times a week to improve his hunting aim.
"Even if anything suspicious was going on here, I'd still come as long as they let me shoot," said Beagle, explaining that On Target is the closest range in the area.
Weapons seizure a state record
Discovery at a Laguna Niguel shooting range and gun shop includes 79 assault rifles. Owner's son is arrested.
By JOHN McDONALD
The Orange County Register
A raid on a Laguna Niguel shooting range and gun shop has yielded the largest haul of illegal assault weapons ever seized in California, officials reported Tuesday.
Ilya Yampolsky, 38, of Laguna Niguel was arrested on 58 felony violations of state firearms laws. He is the son of Valentina Yampolsky, owner of On Target Shooting Range, 27692 Camino Capistrano.
The son is accused of illegally offering to sell the assault weapons at the shop and on the Internet.
The seizure was the largest since the state banned assault weapons in 1989.
The case started with an anonymous tip that led state investigators to inspect On Target on Nov. 19. They found two assault rifles, with price tags attached, offered for sale inside a display case, officials said.
The subsequent search and investigation led to the seizure of 79 assault rifles, three assault pistols, seven assault shotguns, one rifle packaged with two grenade launchers and 19 illegal tracer rounds, said Tom Dresslar, a spokesman for the California Attorney General's Office.
Tracer rounds are used for aiming automatic fire at night and are illegal in California.
Also found was a grenade with a fuse and pin. The Orange County Sheriff's Department bomb squad determined that the grenade was inert.
Ilya Yampolsky is accused of 33 counts of possessing unregistered assault weapons, 21 counts of possessing destructive devices and four counts of offering assault weapons for sale. He was released on bail and could not be reached for comment.
A woman who identified herself as Valentina Yampolsky hung up on a reporter Tuesday.
"The illegal sale of firearms is the No. 1 reason criminals are able to become armed and dangerous," California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said at a Los Angeles news conference held to announce the seizure. "Anyone who witnessed the North Hollywood shootout in 1997 knows that when placed in the wrong hands, these military-style assault weapons represent a tremendous threat to officers and public safety in California."
Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said after the news conference that many of the weapons seized are supposed to be only in the hands of military and law enforcement personnel.
"Dangerous weapons mixed with equally dangerous people create and explosive time bomb," Rackauckas said.
The district attorney said that he has a deputy authorized to prosecute gun cases in either state or federal court and that the latest case will go where the offenses carry the toughest sentence.
Investigators found evidence that 59 assault weapons registered to Yampolsky have not been accounted for and may have been sold, Dresslar said. There is no information on who may have purchased the weapons.
Anybody with information on the whereabouts of the weapons is asked to call the attorney general's firearms hot line at (916) 263-4887.
Some of the weapons seized had been registered to Yampolsky, but 33 were unregistered. The registered weapons can be legally possessed in California but cannot be sold within the state or on the Internet.
Yampolsky is not licensed to sell guns, officials said. His mother has a license to sell firearms but not assault weapons.
A few customers were at the shooting range Tuesday afternoon, and a team of Boy Scouts was booked to shoot later.
The shop had hundreds of guns for sale, including rifles, pistols and shotguns, but nothing that appeared to be an assault rifle.
Employees declined to comment.
One customer, Jake Beagle, 28, of Dana Point, said he shoots at the range three times a week to improve his hunting aim.
"Even if anything suspicious was going on here, I'd still come as long as they let me shoot," said Beagle, explaining that On Target is the closest range in the area.
)
:banghead: 
