Bel-Air guns bring charges
Bel-Air resident with ties to Getty family could face 48 years in prison if convicted.
Man with ties to the Getty family faces 64 felony counts over huge firearm stash.
A 58-year-old man with ties to the Getty family has been charged with 64 felony counts after police seized more than 1,000 guns from his Bel-Air home in May, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said Monday.
Girard Saenz is charged with 23 counts of possession of an assault weapon, 17 counts of transfer of handgun with no licensed firearms dealer, 15 counts of unlawful assault weapon, seven counts of possession of a short-barreled rifle or shotgun and two counts of possession of a destructive device.
Saenz, who was arrested in May after officials received a tip about a person illegally manufacturing and selling guns in a home in the 100 block of North Beverly Glen Boulevard, pleaded not guilty at an arraignment hearing Monday at Los Angeles County Superior Court.
California law prohibits the manufacture, distribution, transportation, importation and sale of such firearms, except in specific circumstances.
When authorities descended on the Bel-Air property owned by Los Angeles real estate mogul Cynthia Beck, who has three daughters with J. Paul Getty’s son Gordon Getty, there were AR-15 military-style automatic rifles, what appeared to be a World War II-era Thompson submachine gun, .44-caliber handguns, .357 magnum revolvers, long guns with intricately carved stocks, an Uzi 9-millimeter submachine gun — complete with silencer — and a 9millimeter Luger pistol.
In court documents, Saenz was identified as Beck’s longtime companion.
The alleged offenses occurred between January 2016 and May 2019, prosecutors said, and bail for Saenz is set at $100,000. If convicted, Saenz could face up to 48 years and eight months in state prison.