San Jose man, 16-year-old arrested in ghost gun distribution bust
SAN JOSE -- A 23-year-old convicted felon and a 16-year-old high school student have been arrested during a ghost gun and drug distribution investigation in San Jose.
San Jose police said Eric Diaz-Ramirez has been booked into Santa Clara County jail on numerous weapons and drug possession charges.
The 16-year-old was in the custody of juvenile authorities.
The arrests came in a San Jose police ghost gun unit investigation of illegal firearms trafficking dating back to January 2023.
During the investigation, detectives determined that Diaz-Ramirez was allegedly supplying various illegal firearms to the juvenile suspect.
Detectives later determined that the juvenile suspect allegedly had been in possession of a loaded concealed firearm while on campus at Independence High School during school hours.
On Wednesday, detectives served two simultaneous search warrants and took the suspects into custody in San José without incident.
The following items were seized during the residential search:
- Springfield Armory Champion semi-automatic pistol .45 caliber
- Heritage Arms revolver .22LR caliber
- Colt Automatic semi-automatic pistol .25 caliber
- Harrington & Richardson revolver .38 Special caliber
- Smith & Wesson SD40OVE semi-automatic pistol .40 caliber
- Approximately 43.5 gram of suspected cocaine
- Various calibers of ammunition for those firearms
- Marijuana
Anyone with information on this investigation is urged to contact Detective Epperson #4554 of the San José Police Department's Gun & Hazardous Offender Suppression Team at 4554@sanjoseca.gov.
Submit crime tips and remain anonymous by using the P3TIPS mobile app, calling the tip line at (408) 947-STOP, or on www.svcrimestoppers.org. If the information you submit leads to an arrest, you are eligible for a cash reward from the Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers Program.
