Two San Jose men face felony weapon and drug charges after Santa Clara District Attorney investigators discovered an arsenal of illegal assault weapons, body armor, armor piercing ammunition, fentanyl and more than 2,000 “ecstasy” pills.
John Phan, 33, and Calvin Le, 25, were arraigned in San Jose on a litany of gun and drug charges, including the illegal manufacturing of guns. If convicted, they face 18 years in prison.
The dangerous stash was found in a home in the midst of a crowded mobile home park in south San Jose, prosecutors said in a press release.
This investigation was led by the newly formed Santa Clara County Gun Violence Task Force, a special unit comprised of officers from various departments that work to take weapons out of the hands of the suicidal or mentally ill, children and felons, like one of the suspects in this case.
While the task force has been focusing its early work on disarming people ordered by the court to not have guns, this was the first operation for a weapons arsenal, according to the press release.
“This is a county that is still healing from mass shootings and reeling from two baby girls who were poisoned with opioids,” said District Attorney Jeff Rosen in a statement. “Our task force is actively and energetically looking for the people selling weaponry to killers and drugs that are lethal. Our task force is finding them and – if I have anything to say about it – they are going to jail.”
On Nov. 28, members of the task force executed a search warrant at a location on Ford Road in San Jose. The investigation revealed that Phan was an armed prohibited felon.
During the search warrant operation, officers recovered multiple illegally possessed firearms, illegally modified assault weapons, machine guns, ghost guns, body armor, bulk quantities of high-caliber ammunition and large quantities of drugs for sale. The following was recovered at the scene:
- 2 AK-style assault rifles, suspected machine guns
- 2 AR-style semi-automatic assault rifles, with one a ghost assault rifle
- 1 ghost pistol
- 1 pistol with an obliterated serial number
- 2 handguns
- Thousands of rounds of ammunition
- Large amounts of drugs for sale, including fentanyl, 2,000+ pills of MDMA, cocaine, marijuana, and more than $10,000 in cash
The San Jose Police Department’s tactical MERGE Unit assisted in the operation.
