Police Academy Firearm Store Worker Arrested in Gun Sting

A longtime employee of the privately run Los Angeles Police Academy gun store was arrested for illegally purchasing a firearm in a sting operation, police said in a statement Friday.

John David Huey, 48, was released on $45,000 bond after he was arrested on suspicion of an illegal firearms transaction, the statement said.

Huey works at the store and is employed by the Los Angeles Police Revolver and Athletic Club, a nonprofit organization supported by dues from current and retired officers.

The department said his arrest was not related to his job. Efforts to reach Huey were unsuccessful.

Department sources said investigators working with agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms arrested Huey in a park near the academy just after he left work Thursday.

Police recovered a loaded handgun and a rifle from the trunk of Huey’s vehicle, authorities said.

After serving search warrants at his Sylmar home, police allegedly recovered five practice hand-grenade bodies, 208 tracer rounds, a disassembled machine gun and an M-2 carbine conversion kit for a machine gun.