San José's finest have nabbed a fraudster who cops say bilked victims out of a cool million bucks and was toting some serious heat. The San José Police Department announced the arrest of 30-year-old Sunnyvale resident John Mahoni, nicking him on charges of felony fraud, weapons possession, and identity theft, according to their press release.
Burglary and Financial Crimes sleuths at SJPD have been piecing together the check deception and identity snatching puzzle since May 2022, with the lengthy probe eventually pointing them to Mahoni as the alleged ringleader of the high-stakes swindle. The suspect's rap sheet just got longer after cops found a ghost gun on him at the time of his arrest, on December 14, and when they later searched his digs, they uncovered an arsenal including a second unregistered pistol with extended magazines, a short-barreled assault rifle, and enough ammo you'd think he was expecting the apocalypse, not a police raid.
In cahoots with the Santa Clara County DA's crackerjacks and mail fuzz, police served up a search warrant on Mahoni's pad, finding more than just heavy-duty firepower. They also seized a trove of swag: cash, bling, a hundred doctored money orders, and a whopping 600-plus bad checks tied to the victims of this grand charade.
Mahoni was carted off to Santa Clara County's iron hotel on a million-dollar warrant for packing those illegal gats. Meanwhile, officers are putting the call out to the public – anyone with the skinny on similar scams should hit up Detective Wellman of the SJPD Financial Crimes, Burglary Unit pronto, or anonymously drop a dime through the P3TIPS mobile app.
