Protest driver pleads guilty in gun case

Man who drove into Pasadena crowd last year brought weapons to California illegally.

A man who drove his truck into a crowd of people protesting racial injustices last year in Pasadena pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal gun charges.

Benjamin Hung, who lives in San Marino, was arrested in May 2020 after he nearly hit protesters who had gathered at the intersection of Fair Oaks Avenue and Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena’s downtown with his Dodge Ram pickup.

Flying from his truck were three flags associated with right-wing groups: a “Thin Blue Line” flag, a Gadsden “Don’t Tread on Me” yellow flag, and an original 13 states “Betsy Ross” American flag, an FBI agent wrote in an affidavit. His license plate read “WAR R1G.”

After Hung was pulled over and detained, police found a loaded Glock 26 handgun inside a fanny pack, the affidavit says.

In pleading guilty Wednesday, Hung acknowledged he had given cash to an unidentified associate who bought the handgun and other firearms in Oregon and delivered them to Hung in California. Through this scheme, Hung obtained the Glock 26 he was carrying in his truck, as well as a Glock 43, a Glock 19X and a Walther P-99, according to his plea agreement. He did not register the weapons in California, the agreement says.

Hung also purchased four rifles and a shotgun in Washington state after falsely stating he was a state resident, according to his plea agreement.

The dealers who sold Hung the weapons were allowed to sell them only to people who lived in the state. Hung kept those firearms at a home in Lodi without registering them in California, his plea agreement says. When agents searched the home in September 2020, they also found two Colt M4 carbines with shortened barrels, according to the agreement.

Hung also admitted in his plea to causing his truck to spew a large amount of vehicle exhaust toward the protesters in Pasadena, a practice known as “coal rolling.”

Hung “blared a loud train-like horn” that he had installed in the truck and then accelerated rapidly, forcing the crowd — including two plainclothes Pasadena Police Department detectives within it — to jump out of the way to avoid being run over, an FBI agent wrote in an affidavit.

Pasadena police pulled Hung over and detained him and a passenger. As he was being handcuffed, Hung claimed protesters had thrown things at his truck and he’d felt threatened, the affidavit says. Inside the truck, police found, in addition to the Glock handgun, an extra magazine of ammunition, a machete, an 18-inch metal pipe, a megaphone and $3,200 in cash, according to the affidavit.

Hung pleaded guilty Wednesday to 11 counts of conspiracy, illegally transporting guns across state lines, possessing unregistered firearms and making false statements when purchasing guns.

U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson scheduled his sentencing for Aug. 31.

Prosecutors have agreed to seek a sentence of no more than 33 months in prison and a fine no higher than $10,000. Hung’s attorneys said in the plea agreement they would not appeal any prison sentence under 33 months.