LOS ANGELES
The editor of a newspaper that covers the Sunland/Tujunga area was sentenced last week to three years and five months in federal prison for illegally possessing firearms, according to officials.
David “Doc” DeMulle, 75, of Tujunga, the editor-in-chief of The Foothills Paper, was sentenced after pleading guilty last year to being a convicted felon in possession of firearms.
Judge Otis Wright found that DeMulle possessed 25 firearms and hundreds of pounds of ammunition that he was forbidden to possess because of convictions for perjury and welfare fraud in 1990.
This matter came to the attention of the firearms trafficking unit of the Los Angeles Police Department and ATF agents when DeMulle published an advertisement in his paper concerning “Guns for Haiti Quake Relief.”
The ad solicited donations of firearms, which DeMulle then purportedly would sell, using the proceeds to support earthquake relief efforts in Haiti.
The advertisement caught the eye of the LAPD, who assigned Vandersall to investigate further, prompting the raid on DeMullé’s home and office, according to the Foothill Record.
“Wrap the gun in bubble wrap and ship in a cardboard box packed with styrofoam peanuts,” instructed the ad, the community paper stated.
The paper stated that an ad also implored donors not to send guns or ammo via the US Postal Service and not to “take any guns to your church or police department.” DeMullé, who is not a licensed firearms dealer and who does not possess a federal firearms license, also told potential donors, “It might be easier for you to deliver them [the guns] in person to our office.”
DeMullé, who is not a licensed firearms dealer and who does not possess a federal firearms license, also told potential donors, “It might be easier for you to deliver them [the guns] in person to our office,” according to the Foothill Record.
Undercover LAPD officers responded to the advertisement and delivered two firearms to DeMulle, who illegally accepted them.
Subsequent searches of DeMulle’s home and business led authorities to recover 23 additional firearms, as well as hundreds of pounds (not rounds) of ammunition.
The investigation also revealed that DeMulle had previously placed classified ads in The Foothills Paper soliciting firearms, which resulted in him purchasing several firearms from a private citizen while falsely claiming that he possessed a federal firearms dealer’s license and would handle the firearms transfer paperwork, according to officials.