Update: 1 Additional Person Arrested in Connection With Illegal Firearms Arrests

Update 04/21/13: Police have arrested another Sonoma man in connection with the gang-related firearms arrests that occurred on April 13.

Arrested was Sonoma resident Dilip Kumar Sinha, 51, of Sonoma, on suspicion of selling a firearm to a convicted felon and knowingly selling a firearm to a gang member. 

An investigation revealed that Sinha came to know one of the suspects arrested during the April 13 incident, Daniel Chevarria, at a local Sonoma business and sold him a gun.

After the Apri 13 arrest of Chevarria, officers went to Chevarria's home and found a gun velcro'ed to the bottom of a chair in his bedroom. The gun was registered to Sinha, according to a Sonoma County Sheriff's press release.

When police contacted Sinha about the gun, he explained to them that he lost the gun while shooting on Millerick Road and never reported it to police, according to the press release. 

After further investigation, deputies concluded that Sinha knowingly sold the gun to Cheverria, a convicted felon. Police say Sinha knew that Chevarria was a gang member, but "sold him the firearm anyway."

Sinha was taken to jail and was given a $10,000 bail amount.

Original story posted:

Bay City News Service

Four men were arrested Saturday afternoon in the southern Sonoma Valley area on gang and firearm and stolen property charges, according to Sgt. Dave Pedersen of the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office. 

The men were spotted by a deputy just after noon on Saturday on the 23500 block of Millerick Lane, standing near a white Nissan Frontier  pick-up, according to Pedersen.

The deputy, who was not identified in press statements, stopped to contact the men because he saw that most of them were wearing gang colors.

A white Nissan Frontier had been reported leaving the area of a gang-related shooting that occurred on  Pedersen said.

The men scattered when they saw the deputy, with four driving away in a red Ford Mustang, two walking into a nearby wine tasting room and two remaining inside the truck. 

The deputy detained the two subjects inside the truck. They were identified as  Luis  Alberto Barragan, a 18-year-old Sonoma resident, and Byron Raymond Alvarez, a  24-year-old also of Sonoma.

The deputy discovered two rifles, a shotgun and a handgun in the bed of the truck, as well as ammunition and a loaded .357 handgun under Alvarez's seat.

The guns were later found to have been stolen in a residential burglary in the El Verano area the day before.  

Of the suspects that had entered the wine tasting room, only Daniel Chevarria, a 26-year-old Sonoma resident, was located. He was arrested  for violating his probation by being with other gang members. 

The red Mustang was later located at the registered owner's house, and David Garcia, a 20-year-old Sonoma resident was arrested for possession  of a dangerous weapon, a billy club. 

Members of the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office Multi-Agency Gang Enforcement Team (M.A.G.N.E.T.) assisted deputies with search warrants of all the suspect's residences.

Searches of the suspects' homes later turned up seven firearms at one home, and a loaded 9 mm handgun in Chavarria's bedroom that was not registered to him. 

Based on MAGNET's investigation, all four suspects were found to have criminal street gang ties, and were booked into Sonoma County Jail on a variety of weapons, stolen property and gang charges, Pedersen said.

   
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