Federal prosecutors say a Rohnert Park man turned his home workshop into a quiet pipeline of untraceable firepower feeding a Santa Rosa street gang.
According to federal authorities, Jose Alfredo Perez, 41, of Rohnert Park, built and supplied more than 20 AR-style rifles and ammunition to members of the Angelino Heights Sureño street gang in Santa Rosa, and was indicted last week on charges that include unlicensed manufacturing and firearms trafficking. He is in federal custody and is scheduled to appear tomorrow for arraignment and a detention hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim.
In a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, investigators say officers recovered 11 unserialized assault weapons in January 2025. In April 2025, agents executed a search warrant at Perez’s residence and reported finding a makeshift firearms workshop in his tool shed and garage, stocked with kits, tools and machinery used to assemble AR-style rifles. Prosecutors allege Perez had certain parts that cannot legally be shipped to California routed to an out-of-state address, then brought into the state, where he allegedly built untraceable weapons for distribution.
How prosecutors say the scheme worked
Authorities say those workarounds, using intermediary addresses and kit parts, allowed the operation to slip past ordinary shipping and background-check safeguards and produce unserialized weapons that are difficult to trace back to buyers. That explanation, along with details of the charges, was also laid out in coverage by SFGATE.
Charges and possible penalties
The indictment includes counts of unlicensed manufacturing and dealing of firearms as well as multiple counts of firearms trafficking. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, a conviction on the unlicensed-manufacturing charge carries a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, while each firearms-trafficking count carries a maximum of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Why this matters locally
Unserialized “ghost” guns are especially troublesome for investigators because they carry no serial numbers and are harder to trace, and law enforcement agencies around the Bay Area have reported recovering more of these weapons in recent years. State officials have been trying to slow the flow of kits and precursor parts into California, with the California Department of Justice and local prosecutors pursuing judgments and regulations aimed at blocking suppliers that facilitate illegal assembly.
Perez remains in federal custody ahead of his arraignment Wednesday. Prosecutors say the investigation was led by the Homeland Security Task Force’s Core Region 2 with assistance from the FBI, the California Highway Patrol and the Santa Rosa Police Department, as reported by SFGATE. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jared Buszin is prosecuting the case. An indictment is only an allegation, and Perez is presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.
