MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO WEAPONS CHARGE, EBEZZLEMENT
Videos simulating mass shooting drew law enforcement
A Spring Valley man who authorities said recorded himself pretending to carry out a mass shooting from a downtown San Diego hotel room pleaded guilty Thursday to possessing an illegal weapon — a fully automated AR-15 assault rifle — and other charges, including embezzlement.
Steve Homoki, 32, came to the attention of law enforcement in late 2019 after two short video recordings surfaced on YouTube. Made in March 2019 and uploaded about six months later, the videos show a man — said to be Homoki — in a third-floor corner suite of the Sofia Hotel on Broadway near Front Street, pointing weapons at people on the street below.
Homoki was not charged with behavior related to the simulated mass shooting. Rather, he was arrested and charged after a search of his home turned up several loaded guns that authorities said were accessible to minors.
On Thursday, Homoki pleaded guilty to one count of possessing the illegal assault rifle, Deputy District Attorney Leonard Trinh said. Homoki also admitted one count of child abuse, a charge brought because of the proximity of the weapons to children in his home.
Aside from the weapons charges, Homoki struck deal in a separate and unrelated criminal case, pleading guilty to embezzlement and grand theft charges.
Homoki agreed to pay back the victim — his former employer — nearly $172,000, Deputy District Attorney Ryan Karkenny said. Homoki was accused of withdrawing money from his employer’s account and putting it into his own between June 2016 and June 2019.
Homoki’s possible punishments range from probation to nine years in prison when he is sentenced March 25 in San Diego Superior Court.
Homoki’s attorney could not be immediately reached for comment.
According to a 2019 court filing, an anonymous tipster reported the videos to the FBI, telling authorities he knew Homoki through online gaming and that he feared Homoki had “gone off the deep end.”
When Homoki was arraigned in December 2019, Deputy District Attorney Wendy Patrick said 14 legally purchased guns were found at his home. Three of them, she said, had been modified to make them illegal assault weapons.
Homoki’s attorney said at the arraignment that Homoki had no prior criminal record.
His bail was set at $1 million in the weapons case, and he has remained jailed since that time. Homoki had been in custody about nine months when prosecutors brought the embezzlement charges.
In a jailhouse interview with CBS 8 in December 2019, Homoki said the videos were for private use and that they had gotten “blown out of proportion.”