A Sunnyvale man has been charged with 25 felonies for allegedly operating a “thriving” drug business next door to an elementary school and possessing a cache of assault weapons and firearms, prosecutors said.
Brett Maxwell, a 51-year-old apartment manager, was arrested on suspicion of possessing firearms, assault weapons and narcotics for sale after the Santa Clara County Gun Violence Task Force located 19 firearms and “several pounds” of methamphetamine and heroin in his apartment and storage unit, according to a news release from the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.
The cache of weapons also included explosives and ghost guns — weapons manufactured without serial numbers — and three of the firearms were assault weapons, prosecutors added. Authorities estimated that the drugs have a street value of $100,000.
“We will never accept turning our neighborhoods into gun and drug bazaars,” Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in the press release. “Thanks to the partnership between local and federal law enforcement agencies, we shut down both this extremely dangerous business and the reckless felon who ran it.”
Maxwell was set to be arraigned Wednesday at the Hall of Justice in San Jose. If convicted, his prison sentence could be significant, prosecutors added.
Authorities served a search warrant Nov. 13 at the apartment complex in the area of Fair Oaks Park, where they located the guns and drugs as well as cash. At the storage area, which was several miles away, authorities found additional guns, drugs and explosives.
The operation was assisted by the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety, the San Jose Police Department GHOST Unit and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, prosecutors added.
“Our work with the District Attorney’s Office led to the arrest of an individual possessing dangerous guns and selling drugs in our community,” said Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety Chief Dan Pastor. “This kind of collaboration is essential to keeping our neighborhoods safe, and we’re grateful for our partners who help us remove these dangerous threats from our streets.”