[UPDATED with Charges:] Baylor Eldric Maggenti Held After Material to Make IED Bombs, Cache of 34 Guns Found

See the update at the end of this post with the charges and possible sentence facing the suspect.


ORIGINAL POST, DEC. 18, 5:21 P.M.: A 66-year-old man who was apparently living in a commercial business park in Costa Mesa was arrested Monday for possessing gun powder, fuse material and other materials sufficient to make improvised explosive devices, police say.

No assembled IEDs were found, but 34 firearms also in the possession of Baylor Eldric Maggenti were also seized pending “further evaluation to determine legality,” according to a statement from Costa Mesa Police Lt. Paul Dondero.
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Included were handguns and rifles–some semi-automatic, some commemorative or collectible in nature–as well as a short-barreled shotgun and a semi-automatic handgun “with potentially illegal modifications,” Dondero said.

Police had received “credible information” Monday about a person who may have been in possession of illegal explosive materials at the commercial business park at 1835 Whittier Ave., according to Dondero.

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 Whittier Avenue address at 6 p.m. Monday. That's when investigators found the IED material and firearms.

Maggenti was contacted during the search and subsequently arrested on suspicion of unlawfully possessing explosive-making materials. He was later booked into Orange County Jail in lieu of $20,000 bail.

UPDATE, DEC. 19, 1:51 P.M.: Baylor Eldric Maggenti has been charged with one felony count each of intent to unlawfully make a destructive device,
possession of a short-barreled shotgun, and possession of an assault
weapon, the Orange County District Attorney's office (OCDA) announced this afternoon.

If convicted, the Costa Mesa 66-year-old faces up to five years and four
months in state prison. His bail has  been increased to $150,000 pending a scheduled arraignment today at the Central Jail in Santa Ana.

The OCDA statement reveals Maggenti has a wood-working business in the Whittier Avenue commercial building where he also resides.  

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