A South Los Angeles man accused of illegally transporting tons of fireworks in June pleaded guilty Monday to a federal charge.
Arturo Ceja III pleaded guilty at the federal courthouse, according to City News Service. A sentencing date was not scheduled immediately.
Prosecutors said the illegally transported fireworks included a large cache of homemade fireworks that were detonated by the LAPD in June.
The federal complaint against Ceja alleges that he “made several trips to Nevada in late June to purchase various types of explosives, including aerial displays and large homemade fireworks containing explosive materials -- that he transported to his home in rental vans,” according to City News Service.
“Ceja told investigators that he purchased the homemade explosives, constructed of cardboard paper, hobby fuse and packed with explosive flash powder, from an individual selling the devices out of the trunk of a Honda in the Area 51 parking lot, according to the complaint.”
After a tip that fireworks were being stored in Ceja’s backyard, LAPD responded to his house on June 30. While there, they allegedly found more than 30,000 pounds of fireworks stored in Ceja’s backyard.
Following the discovery of additional homemade fireworks, LAPD bomb techs were told that the homemade explosives would be unsafe to transport and detonated the fireworks inside of a total containment vessel.
According to officials, techs miscalculated the weight of the fireworks and the resulting blast destroyed the containment sphere, blew out windows in several homes and sent 17 people to the hospital.
In the aftermath of the incident, the department has faced criticism over its decision to detonate explosives in a neighborhood without warning the residents.
City Councilmember Curran Price announced a $1 million emergency fund in July to provide long-term housing, repairs and financial assistance to victims of the blast. The funds came from his office's Environmental Equity and Reimagining Public Safety dollars
"It should never have happened in the first place and it is clear that the city is at fault in this explosion. But the damage and destruction has been done, and it is now time to restore our families and rebuild our community," Price said.
LAPD Chief Michel Moore said the department would expand its protocols to include increased training and increased oversight before detonation.
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