In January 2025, a tip-off about gang activities led the San José Police Department's Violent Crimes Enforcement Team (VCET) to surveil an area known for such troubles. Their investigation on Ocala Avenue and S. King Road captured 19-year-old Daniel Pena on camera, illegally carrying a firearm. Pena, already forbidden from owning firearms, would later become the prime suspect in an unrelated armed robbery in San José.
The VCET obtained an arrest warrant for Pena and, subsequently, a search warrant for his San José residence. Come March 20, law enforcement, including VCET officers and Gang Investigations Unit detectives, supported by the Covert Response Unit, arrested Pena. The search yielded two privately made firearms, and therein lay the attachments to worse crimes. In a locked safe, the authorities discovered an arsenal belonging to another local, 37-year-old Mario Munoz-Hernandez: from a homemade firearm and parts for handgun assembly to an unserialized assault rifle, three unregistered handguns, ammunition, narcotics, over $20,000 in cash, and multiple cryptocurrency wallets.
Following the discovery of these illegal firearms, VCET Officers quickly sought and received an arrest warrant for Munoz-Hernandez. Subsequent operations succeeded on April 4 when Munoz-Hernandez was apprehended in San José and subsequently booked for possession of illegal firearms at the Santa Clara County Main Jail, leveraging the same fate his alleged counterpart had already met.
An official statement from the San José Police Department pleaded for community assistance: "Anyone with information about this case or similar cases is asked to contact Officer Cortez #4526 of the San José Police Department Violent Crimes Enforcement Unit." The arrest and confiscation showcase a small victory in the ongoing battle against illegal weapons and affiliated criminal activities that continue to challenge the peace of San José streets.
