The Costa Mesa man who was arrested on suspicion of possessing bomb-making materials and illegal firearms days after the Dec. 14 Sandy Hook massacre is now also accused of having had 33 photos of girls who appear scantily clad or in sexually suggestive poses and all younger than 10. Baylor Eldric Maggenti, 66, pleaded not guilty last Thursday to felony counts of intent to unlawfully make a destructive device and possession of a short-barreled shotgun, an assault weapon and child pornography.
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Costa Mesa Police said in December investigators received “credible information” about someone having illegal explosive materials at a
commercial business park on Whittier Avenue, which is also where Maggenti lived.
Detectives
contacted the Orange County Sheriff's Department's Intelligence
Assessment Center and the sheriff's Bomb Squad about the tip, which led
to a search warrant being served at the address, which is where police say improvised explosive device (IED) material and 34
firearms were found. Some were semi-automatic and some were commemorative or collectible, but a police spokesman said at the time a short-barreled shotgun and a semi-automatic handgun “with
potentially illegal modifications” were among the cache.
Baylor Eldric Maggenti Held After Material to Make IED Bombs, Cache of 34 Guns Found
Maggenti was subsequently arrested on suspicion of unlawfully possessing
explosive-making materials. The illegal firearms counts were filed when the Orange County District Attorney's office charged Maggenti, who was looking at up to five years and four months in state prison with a conviction on those counts. The alleged child porn was found during the December search, but that felony count was not added until the day last week the defendant made his plea in Orange County Superior Court.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.