GETTY, GUNS, AND A GUY NAMED SAENZ
A run-down mansion, the Getty connection and a man the neighbors never saw: The tale of the huge weapons cache at a Los Angeles home
“This is a big stash,” Ramirez told reporters at the scene. “It’s beyond comprehension that somebody can have so many weapons in a residence like this, in a neighborhood like this.”
That somebody is alleged to be 57-year-old Girard Saenz, who was inside the home at the time of the raid. He was arrested on suspicion of violating California’s law regarding assault weapons and .50-caliber Browning machine guns. The law prohibits the manufacture, distribution, transportation, importation and sale of such guns except in specific circumstances…
But Saenz … was identified in court records as the longtime companion of Los Angeles real estate mogul Cynthia Beck. Public records show the Bel-Air property is owned by Beck, who has three daughters with J. Paul Getty’s son Gordon Getty. Getty is an heir to the Getty Oil fortune and an international patron of the arts…
The ATF said in a statement that its agents searched the house after discovering Saenz was illegally selling firearms outside the scope of the federal license he possesses. Law enforcement has not specified how Saenz was allegedly selling weapons.
Saenz posted a $50,000 bond and was released from custody shortly after 9 a.m. Thursday. He could not be reached for comment.
He has been a licensed general building contractor since 1994 and operates a business that he started in the early 1990s in San Diego called Gerry Saenz and Associates, according to public records. Archives from a local newspaper in Coronado from 1993 note that the business specialized in architectural environmental lighting and landscape design.
Saenz was arrested at a Malibu home in September 2017 on suspicion of brandishing a firearm. But those involved told deputies they did not want to pursue the matter, according to a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department spokesman. Saenz was released within a few hours of being detained. No charges were filed.
Saenz’s current business address is a property on North Bunker Hill Avenue in Los Angeles that he owns with Beck. The home was one of several locations that were searched by authorities Wednesday, law enforcement sources not authorized to speak publicly told The Times.
Public records indicate Saenz lived in the San Diego area with his ex-wife in the early 1990s and eventually moved to Los Angeles.
Neighbors say the home where he was arrested is normally quiet.