Woodland man pleads to gun trafficking, unlawful gun possession

A 38-year-old Woodland man pleaded guilty Thursday in a federal courtroom in Sacramento, admitting to the unlawful sale of a firearm to a felon and being a felon in possession of a firearm, and became the 27th and final defendant to plead in a massive investigation that uncovered organized crime in Woodland with ties to criminal groups in California’s jail and prison systems.

After his hearing, Justin Wade Johnson was remanded in Sacramento County Jail, Phillip A. Talbert, the U.S. Attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Eastern District of California, said in a press statement.

Court documents show Johnson is one of more than two dozen federal defendants arrested in February 2018 on narcotics and weapons-related charges as part of Operation Silent Night, the investigation, begun in the spring of 2016, that revealed the widespread criminal activity.

Although centered in Yolo County, the investigation also showed that at least nine other California counties were negatively affected by these criminal organizations: Sacramento, Sutter, Colusa, Yuba, Del Norte, Solano, Fresno, Santa Clara, and Siskiyou, noted Talbert.

Johnson is a felon who, by law, is prohibited from possessing any firearm because he was previously convicted of felonies for assault with a deadly weapon, possessing a weapon while being a prisoner, and possession of marijuana for sale, said Talbert.

In October 2017, Johnson sold an AR-15 rifle to a convicted felon. At the time of the sale, Johnson knew that he was selling the rifle to a felon. Later in October, law enforcement used a search warrant at Johnson’s storage unit in Woodland, where officers seized a shotgun, a rifle and four handguns.

Johnson, who is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley on Feb. 23, faces a maximum 20-year prison term and a $500,000 fine.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Lee is prosecuting the cases, which already have led to the convictions of 11 other Woodland residents.

Operation Silent Night is the product of an investigation by the FBI, the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office, the Woodland Police Department, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and the California Highway Patrol.

Several agencies provided additional and “substantial assistance,” said Talbert. Among them were: the Vacaville Police Department, the Solano County Sheriff’s Office, the Yolo County Sheriff’s Office, the Davis Police Department, the Sacramento Police Department, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.