A handgun sold by local police officers has turned up in a Salinas drug dealer's home, according to a recent federal indictment.
Carlos Miguel Fernandez and Edward Arao, both former Gardena police officers, are accused of dealing firearms without a license and lying about it. Federal agents traced one gun sold by the Gardena officers to the home of Oscar Camacho Sr. who, according to a criminal complaint, bought a .38 caliber revolver and then allegedly gave the gun to his son, a felon and prohibited from owning or possessing a gun.
Documents show that agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives searched the Camacho home in Salinas looking for guns sold by the Gardena officers and found a large package of cocaine, meth, heroin, 10 guns, and ammunition.
The indictment comes on the heels of a similar investigation accusing former Pasadena police Lt. Vasken Gourdikian of selling dozens of guns without a license.
Gourdikian allegedly used his position as a police officer to get several "waivers" from the chief of police, which allowed him to avoid the typical 10-day waiting period to buy a gun. The waiver letters state that the guns are "not being purchased for resale."
Gourdikian allegedly sold several guns on this Calguns website. The I-Team found three guns for sale under his user name that match the make and model of guns he received with the police chief's approval.
And one gun, a Glock 43, advertised for sale only eight days after receiving the OK. The ATF warned local police departments last year of what they call an emerging problem, police buying and selling multiple guns without a license.
