San Jose police: Central Valley man arrested, accused of trafficking machine gun switches
SAN JOSE — Police have announced the arrest earlier this month of a Stockton-area man who they allege trafficked hundreds of so-called “Glock switches” that convert popular handguns into fully-automatic pistols.
The underlying investigation began in mid-November the San Jose Police Department’s GHOST gun-suppression team got a tip from the Santa Clara County Probation Department about illegal gun making, according to a police news release.
Detectives eventually identified Kenneth Jeremiah Tafoya, a 20-year-old resident of Lockeford — a San Joaquin County town about 20 miles northeast of Stockton — as someone they say “imported or manufactured at least 1,700 machine gun conversionary devices” from overseas for sale in Northern California and the Central Valley. The devices are commonly known as “Glock switches” because they are designed to modify Glock pistols for rapid fire.
On Jan. 14, police said detectives, joined by the county Gun Violence Task Force run out of the district attorney’s office, arrested Tafoya in Stockton on suspicion of “various firearm related offenses.” He was criminally charged two days later, and he is not in county jail custody, records show.
A search of a home linked to Tafoya resulted in the seizure of a handful of firearms, a Glock switch, ammunition, and “firearm manufacturing precursor materials,” police said. The investigation later grew to include the California Highway Patrol, and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
In statements included in the news release, SJPD Chief Paul Joseph said “the importation, manufacturing, and sale of illegal firearms will not be tolerated in our community … our officers dismantled a dangerous operation, preventing these weapons from falling into the wrong hands and causing further harm.”
Anyone with information about the gun operation alleged against Tafoya can contact Detective Jordan Epperson at 408-277-4161 or by email at 4554@sanjoseca.gov. Tips can also be left with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-7867 or at siliconvalleycrimestoppers.org.