The referrals are the latest twist in the sprawling LAPD investigation into the theft of firearms from a nonprofit gun store at the Los Angeles Police Academy.
Federal prosecutors are reviewing potential criminal charges against a high-ranking Los Angeles police official and an L.A. County sheriff’s deputy who sold high-capacity firearms without a license.
LAPD officials referred the two cases to the U.S. Attorney’s office in L.A. on the recommendation of L.A. County prosecutors, according to internal records from the district attorney’s office and the LAPD.The local prosecutors did not conclude that Maciel or Embrich broke federal laws but said there was evidence to suggest they did.
in Elysian Park. A store manager named Archi Duenas had been pilfering firearms from the store and then selling them privately, including to Embrich, Maciel and several other LAPD officers. In October, prosecutors cited insufficient evidence to file charges against three of those officers. They reached the same conclusion for Maciel last month and Embrich earlier this month, while referring the two men’s sale of off-roster firearms to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Muna Busailah, Embrich’s attorney, has previously said that her client denied all allegations against him but had been ordered by the LAPD not to discuss the case because of pending criminal and administrative investigations.