Police and federal agents, acting on a tip, have arrested one person on weapons charges after confiscating more than 1,000 guns Wednesday from a home in the posh Bel Air section of Los Angeles, according to authorities. Photos and video from the scene showed stacks of rifles, handguns and shotguns spread out in the driveway of the home not far from the Playboy Mansion. Others showed a table stacked with boxes of ammunition. “I had never seen so many weapons in my career of 31 years,” police Lt. Chris Ramirez said. “That’s such a big arsenal in a residence like this, in this type of neighborhood. It’s astounding.” Girard Saenz, 57, of Los Angeles, was arrested on suspicion of distributing, transporting, importing, selling, or lending an assault weapon, according to the Los Angeles Police Department, KTLA reported. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said its agents searched the home after receiving a tip of a person "conducting illegal firearms transaction outside the scope of the federal firearm license" that the individual possessed. Bel Air, a hilly neighborhood on the west side of Los Angeles, is a regular stop for tourists gawking at the multi-million dollar homes of such celebrities as Jay-Z and Beyoncé. The 8,200-square foot, five-bedroom home where the weapons were confiscated is valued at more than $7 million, KTLA reports, citing public property records and the real estate website Redfin.com. According to the Los Angeles Times, the property is owned by Cynthia Beck, who has three children with J. Paul Getty’s son Gordon Getty. Beck bought the property 18 years ago, but it is unclear what connection, she might have, if any, with the events Wednesday. Beck could not be reached for comment, the Times said. Contributing: Associated Press<doc-sep>Today’s Headlines The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning. By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy<doc-sep>A man who was arrested when investigators discovered a cache of more than 1,000 weapons on Wednesday has been released on bond, according to booking records. Girard Damien Saenz, 57, was arrested on suspicion of illegal manufacture, distribution or sale of assault weapons. Police discovered massive cache of rifles, ammunition, and other weapons at a ritzy home in Bel-Air. Saenz was released on Thursday morning after posting a $50,000 bond, according to jail records. The LAPD and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms served a search warrant Wednesday morning on the home at 111 N. Beverly Glen Blvd. The home is owned by Cynthia Beck, who was once a mistress of Gordon P. Getty, the fourth child of oil baron J. Paul Getty. Gordon Getty, now 85, is an opera composer and philanthropist who lives in San Francisco. In 1999, he acknowledged that he had three children with Beck, who were living in Los Angeles. Beck bought the Bel-Air mansion for $2.6 million in 2001. It has five bedrooms, eight bathrooms and 8,229 square feet, according to L.A. County Assessor’s records. Redfin estimates it is now worth more than $7 million. Beck and Saenz co-own several other properties in Los Angeles and San Francisco, according to property records. Saenz has had a contractor’s license since 1994, under the name Gerry Saenz and Associates. According to the ATF, Saenz has a federal firearms license, but the agency was investigating whether he was dealing weapons outside the restrictions of the license. In an interview, ATF spokeswoman Ginger Colbrun said that Saenz had an “03” license, which allows collectors to obtain “curios and relics,” but does not permit gun sales. Saenz has not been charged with a crime, and it is not clear whether he will be charged in state or federal court. Agents and officers are still working to catalog the vast stash of weapons.<doc-sep>The scene was straight out of a B movie: Run-down mansion. Tony neighborhood. Anonymous tip. The whiff of celebrity. And a jaw-droppingly large cache of weapons, some of questionable legality. Investigators with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives descended on the tatty Bel-Air mansion along with members of the Los Angeles Police Department in the early morning darkness. What they found there Wednesday was both lethal and perplexing. The sprawling white clapboard house — two stories, five bedrooms hidden behind a discolored gate and a tall hedge — was in complete disarray. Guns were everywhere in what authorities described as a hoarder’s paradise in the 100 block of North Beverly Glen. There were AR-15 military-style automatic rifles, what appeared to be a World War II-era Thompson submachine gun, .44-caliber handguns, .357 magnum revolvers, long guns with intricately carved stocks, an Uzi 9-millimeter submachine gun — complete with silencer — and a 9-millimeter Luger pistol. Advertisement More than 1,000 firearms in all. It would take 30 law enforcement personnel more than a dozen hours to clear the house and remove the weapons, along with gun parts and boxes of ammunition. The weapons were arrayed in long lines on white blankets on the property’s winding driveway Wednesday, a jumble of metal and wood. Once authorities cataloged the stockpile, the guns were loaded into a large box truck and driven off the property. The weapons will be itemized and booked into evidence, said Lt. Chris Ramirez, an LAPD spokesman. “This is a big stash,” Ramirez told reporters at the scene. “It’s beyond comprehension that somebody can have so many weapons in a residence like this, in a neighborhood like this.” × More than a thousand guns were seized after federal agents searched a home in Holmby Hills, authorities said. (Video by Myung Chun/Los Angeles Times) That somebody is alleged to be 57-year-old Girard Saenz, who was inside the home at the time of the raid. He was arrested on suspicion of violating California’s law regarding assault weapons and .50-caliber Browning machine guns. The law prohibits the manufacture, distribution, transportation, importation and sale of such guns except in specific circumstances. As authorities investigated Wednesday evening, vans rumbled by full of tourists headed to see the nearby Playboy Mansion and other homes owned by wealthy Los Angeles A-listers. Jay-Z and Beyoncé live in a mansion less than a mile from the scene. But Saenz — who authorities allege was selling weapons from the Bel-Air home — has a much stronger connection to the rich and famous than simply living near the hip-hop power couple. He was identified in court records as the longtime companion of Los Angeles real estate mogul Cynthia Beck. Public records show the Bel-Air property is owned by Beck, who has three daughters with J. Paul Getty’s son Gordon Getty. Getty is an heir to the Getty Oil fortune and an international patron of the arts. Advertisement A member of the media takes video of a home at 111 N. Beverly Glen Blvd., where the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives seized 1,000 guns. Beck was thrust into the spotlight in 1999, when the girls filed a petition in Los Angeles Superior Court to change their surname from Beck to the far more glamorous Getty. At the time, there also were negotiations over the possibility of future inheritance. Getty, who had a wife and four grown sons in San Francisco, publicly acknowledged his double life, which had been an open secret in certain glitzy Bay Area circles. Tongues wagged. As one local columnist cracked at the time: “If only San Francisco’s high society had been hired to guard the United States’ nuclear weapons secrets, the ones that have steadily leaked out to the Chinese.” Advertisement Getty also was a father figure, business partner and political donor to none other than Gov. Gavin Newsom, who, as a teenager, went on an African safari with the oil scion and his wife, Ann. Beck bought the house in January 2001, but it remains unclear what, if any, connection she has to Wednesday’s events or if she lives at the home. In more recent years, she has accumulated a trove of property in Los Angeles and San Francisco, some of which she owns with Saenz, according to public records. She could not be reached for comment Thursday. Authorities launched their investigation into the weapons cache after they received an anonymous tip that someone was manufacturing and selling guns at the home. Advertisement The ATF said in a statement that its agents searched the house after discovering Saenz was illegally selling firearms outside the scope of the federal license he possesses. Law enforcement has not specified how Saenz was allegedly selling weapons. Saenz posted a $50,000 bond and was released from custody shortly after 9 a.m. Thursday. He could not be reached for comment. He has been a licensed general building contractor since 1994 and operates a business that he started in the early 1990s in San Diego called Gerry Saenz and Associates, according to public records. Archives from a local newspaper in Coronado from 1993 note that the business specialized in architectural environmental lighting and landscape design. Saenz was arrested at a Malibu home in September 2017 on suspicion of brandishing a firearm. But those involved told deputies they did not want to pursue the matter, according to a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department spokesman. Saenz was released within a few hours of being detained. No charges were filed. Advertisement Saenz’s current business address is a property on North Bunker Hill Avenue in Los Angeles that he owns with Beck. The home was one of several locations that were searched by authorities Wednesday, law enforcement sources not authorized to speak publicly told The Times. Public records indicate Saenz lived in the San Diego area with his ex-wife in the early 1990s and eventually moved to Los Angeles. Neighbors say the home where he was arrested is normally quiet.<doc-sep>
When authorities raided a Bel-Air mansion this week, they had no idea about the cache of firearms they would find. Over the course of several hours, they removed more than 1,000 weapons in one of the largest seizures of its kind in Los Angeles. Girard Saenz, 57, was arrested on suspicion of violating California’s law regarding assault weapons and .50-caliber Browning machine guns. The law prohibits the manufacture, distribution, transportation, importation and sale of such firearms, except in specific circumstances. He was released from jail Thursday morning after posting $50,000 bond, according to jail records. Here is what we know: Who is Girard Saenz? A law enforcement source not authorized to speak publicly told The Times that Saenz was selling guns and that some of the weapons may have been fully automatic, which are illegal in California. Officials received a tip about a person illegally manufacturing and selling guns in a home in the 100 block of North Beverly Glen Boulevard, the Los Angeles Police Department said. Court records show the property is owned by Cynthia Beck, who has three daughters with J. Paul Getty’s son Gordon Getty and who is a longtime companion of Saenz’s. A source told The Times that a few of the items seized at the Bel-Air mansion were military-grade weapons. Beck bought the property in January 2001, but it remains unclear what, if any, connection she has to Wednesday’s events. She could not be reached for comment after the raid. Public records show that Saenz has been a licensed general building contractor since 1994 and operates a business called Gerry Saenz and Associates. The business address is a home on North Bunker Hill Avenue in Los Angeles that he owns with Beck. That property was also searched by authorities Wednesday, law enforcement sources told The Times. Public records show Beck and Saenz together own several pieces of property in Los Angeles and an office building in San Francisco. Neither Saenz nor his attorney could be reached for comment Thursday. What sparked the raid? Police launched an investigation after receiving an anonymous tip about someone selling guns at the home, said Officer Mike Lopez, an LAPD spokesman. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said in a statement that its agents searched the Bel-Air home after discovering an individual was illegally selling firearms outside the scope of the federal license the person possesses. Video of the raid shows what appear to be ATF officials reviewing the trove of guns stacked on the ground, examining boxes and taking photographs of evidence. Authorities said they also found a large amount of firearm-manufacturing equipment and tools. “This is a big stash,” Lt. Chris Ramirez, an LAPD spokesman, told reporters at the scene. “It’s beyond comprehension that somebody can have so many weapons in a residence like this, in a neighborhood like this.” What do legal experts say? Steve Cooley, a former Los Angeles County district attorney, said the number of firearms Saenz is accused of having is not the problem. “There is nothing in itself wrong with having a thousand guns. It all depends on whether they comply with California and federal laws,” he cautioned, noting that even with a federal firearms license to sell weapons, the legal aspects of doing so are very complex. Chuck Michel, a well-known gun rights attorney, said that having 1,000 guns isn’t that unusual for a federal firearms dealer. He said dealers often keep their own private collections and then separately keep an inventory of weapons in stock for the business. As a federally licensed weapons dealer, a person can sell guns elsewhere that are not compliant with California’s assault rifle laws. The state, however, requires dealers to have a dangerous weapons permit, Michel said. Sometimes, he said, dealers can overlook the correct paperwork and run afoul of the law, noting that sensational search warrants with piles of guns often end up without charges.