Former Pasadena and Torrance Police Officer to Be Sentenced Thursday for Illegal Gun Dealing

[UPDATED] A man who worked as a police officer in Torrance and Pasadena is scheduled to be sentenced today for selling dozens of guns illegally.

Prosecutors said Lindley Hupp, 32, of Long Beach, illegally sold two firearms in 2011 when he was an auxiliary officer with the Pasadena police force and at least 48 firearms during an 8 1/2-year period while working with the Torrance Police Department.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Hupp agreed last November to plead guilty to a two-count federal indictment which contained two charges: Engaging in the business of dealing in firearms without a license and making a false statement in a federal firearm licensee’s records during the purchase of a firearm.

Law enforcement officers are permitted to buy what are known as “off
roster” guns that people without a badge can’t buy directly from a licensed
dealer. Thirty-six of the 48 guns Hupp sold were “off roster” arms, federal
prosecutors said.

The government has agreed to recommend a prison sentence of not more
than 18 months, but the ultimate decision belongs to the judge, according to
papers filed in Los Angeles federal court.

Agreed to plead guilty to federal charges related to using his position to obtain, then illegally sell, at least 50 guns, prosecutors announced Tuesday.

Lindley Alan Hupp, 32, of Long Beach, has agreed to plead guilty to a two-count indictment filed Friday in federal court, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The indictment contains two charges: Engaging in the business of dealing in firearms without a license and making a false statement in a federal firearm licensee’s records during the purchase of a firearm.

He’s accused of “being an unlicensed firearms dealer who sold dozens of guns, as well as certifying he was the actual purchaser of a handgun, when, in fact, he was buying the gun for another person,” DOJ spokesman Thom Mrozek said in a written statement.

Hupp is the second police officer arrested on gun charges.

In 2019, former Pasadena police Lieutenant Vasken Kenneth Gourdikian, 50, was sentenced to one year and one day in a Southern California prison and fined $10,000 during a Los Angeles federal court sentencing hearing Monday after he pleaded guilty to illegal gun possession and selling firearms without a license.