Southern California man pleads guilty to Lodi gun charges
A Southern California man suspected of using a Lodi vineyard as a tactical training camp entered into a plea agreement this week, changing his plea from not guilty to guilty.
The United States Department of Justice announced Thursday that 28year-old Benjamin Jong Ren Hung of San Marino agreed to plead guilty to 11 felony offenses including conspiracy, transporting and receiving firearms across state lines, making false statements during purchases of firearms, and possession of unregistered firearms.
The charges stem from an incident in Pasadena last May in which Hung intentionally drove a pick-up truck into a crowd of protesters.
Pasadena Police Department officers arrested Hung, and after searching his vehicle, they found a loaded semi-automatic handgun, several high capacity magazines loaded with ammunition, an 18inch machete, $3,200 in cash, a long metal pipe and a megaphone.
Hung allegedly acquired the handgun from a friend who purchased the weapon in Oregon, and then brought it to California.
He also allegedly purchased three other guns in Oregon last year, as well as amassed other weapons and tactical equipment
from suppliers across the country.
In September, federal investigators raided a home in the Rose Gate development, as well as a vineyard on the 21000 block of North Davis Road, both owned by Hung’s parents.
Investigators say Hung was using the vineyard as a training camp and firing range to engage in civil disorders, and that during email conversations with friends, plans were made that if things “went down” they would rendezvous in Lodi, make a bunker and not surrender to any potential intruders.
According to the USDOJ, Hung admitted to participating in a multiyear conspiracy to make false statements to firearms dealers in Oregon and to illegally transport those firearms to California. He provided cash to the friend in Oregon to buy handguns for him, and to falsely state that the friend was the actual buyer. The friend then delivered the firearms to Hung in California.
In his plea agreement, Hung admitted that he engaged in the scheme to obtain the firearms and “evade California’s firearms registration laws,” the DOJ said.
Hung also admitted to making false statements to firearms dealers in Washington in connection with his purchase of four rifles and one shotgun in March 2020.
When he purchased the firearms, Hung falsely stated that he was a resident of Washington, rather than California, because “firearms dealers were not legally permitted to sell firearms to California residents,” he said.
Hung also agreed to plead guilty to illegally transporting those firearms to California.
He further admitted to illegally possessing three unregistered short-barreled semiautomatic rifles, which authorities seized from the Lodi home in September.
In the plea agreement, Hung admitted bringing one of the illegally obtained firearms to Pasadena in May when he drove into the crowd of protesters.
Last October, Hung initially plead not guilty to the charges. The DOJ did not disclose why Hung changed his plea.
A court appearance to formally enter the guilty pleas has not yet been set. If convicted, he could face as many as five years in federal prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Hung is the son of Isaac and Cecilia Hung, president and secretary, respectively, of 157 California Reserve, Inc.
The couple have owned the Davis Road vineyard since 2013, and their company owns a nine-acre piece of property on the northwest corner of Turner and Lower Sacramento Roads, across of the old General Mills plant.
The couple intends to transform the site into a boutique hotel with commercial retail space and a residential apartment complex.