HomeHung Denied Bail in Federal Weapons Charge

Hung Denied Bail in Federal Weapons Charge

TRIBUNE Photo
Benjamin “Benny” Hung, during a 2007 San Marino football game against Workman High School.

Being declared a potential flight risk due to the nature of the allegations he is facing, a San Marino man was denied bail on Monday and remains jailed on charges of conspiracy to transport firearms across state lines and making a false statement in relation to the acquisition of firearms, according to an affidavit filed by the United States district court.
Benjamin “Benny” Hung, 28, a 2010 graduate of San Marino High School, was arrested on Wednesday, Sept. 23, after a search warrant was executed at a local home. An arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 15, according to his father, Isaac Hung. If convicted, Benny Hung faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.
Hung was first arrested by Pasadena police on May 31 when he drove a pickup truck toward a crowd of protesters on the street in Old Pasadena during a demonstration to condemn the killing of George Floyd. Hung’s Dodge Ram pickup truck was captured on video during this maneuver, during which three large flags were mounted in the truck bed: a “thin blue line” American flag, the Gadsden flag reading “Don’t Tread on Me” and the Betsy Ross American flag, the original 13-star variant of the nation’s flag.
These flags, according to FBI Special Agent Diamond Outlaw in his affidavit for this case, are “associated with right-wing extremist groups.” The combination of flags is frequently associated with extremist groups like the Three Percenters and events like the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Virginia that was organized by several white supremacist and neo-Nazi organizations, according to the affidavit.
Pasadena officers searched Hung’s truck when they pulled him over that day and reported locating a loaded handgun, multiple loaded high-capacity magazines, an 18-inch machete, $3,200 in cash, a long metal pipe and a megaphone. Though he was initially arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, Pasadena prosecutors ultimately filed a misdemeanor charge of carrying a loaded firearm against Hung.

Photo courtesy U.S. District Court
This selfie of San Marino man Benjamin Hung was included in an FBI affidavit that describes his interest in extremist groups as fueling what are now federal weapons charges against him.

“Once the federal case is done — that takes priority — then we can address the issue of the weapons violation,” said Lt. Bill Grisafe, with the Pasadena Police Department, in a phone interview.

Investigators maintain that Hung acquired that handgun from a friend, who purchased the firearm in Oregon and then transported it to Lodi, California. When the friend purchased the firearm, he falsely represented that he was the actual transferee of the gun, rather than Hung, according to the affidavit. Hung then kept the firearm at the San Marino residence. Hung also purchased and then transported at least three firearms from Oregon to Lodi in March 2020.

Hung or his family members are believed to have residences or businesses in Oregon, Lodi and San Marino.
Outlaw details in his report that his investigation has yielded text messages and other communications from Hung that amplified rhetoric associated with the Three Percenters, a far-right militia group, as well as QAnon, another far-right movement that espouses conspiracies related to an alleged “deep state” working to undermine President Donald Trump.
The affidavit includes a selfie of Hung in which he is wearing the signature Three Percenters’ shirt, depicting the 13 stars of the Betsy Ross American flag surrounding the Roman numeral III.
“Prior to his trip to Oregon, Hung and his associates communicated regularly about his plans to stockpile firearms to prepare for civil disorders,” Outlaw wrote. “These communications appeared to escalate in early March 2020 before Hung’s trip to Oregon at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and increased conspiracy theories propagated by the far-right movement known as ‘QAnon’ … that the virus was a hoax.”
Isaac Hung declined further comment and said that legal representation for his son is being assembled.

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