LOS ANGELES, CA – A 26-year-old Pasadena man with alleged ties to the anti-government “Boogaloo” movement is in federal custody, charged with possessing a machine gun. Isaac Aaron Morgan Loftus was already in state custody when federal authorities leveled the charge, stemming from an incident last November near Thomas Jefferson High School in South Los Angeles.
According to court documents, law enforcement responded to reports of an armed individual – later identified as Loftus – wearing tactical gear and allegedly pointing a firearm at motorists around lunchtime on November 22, 2022. Loftus initially refused to comply with officers’ commands before being detained. A search revealed a 9mm “ghost gun” – a firearm without a serial number – loaded with one round in the chamber and six in the magazine. The holster holding the weapon was adorned with symbols associated with the Boogaloo movement, an extremist group anticipating a potential civil war against the government.
The situation quickly escalated beyond a simple weapons violation. Authorities discovered Loftus was driving a Honda Clarity reported stolen from a local car dealership earlier that day. The vehicle was also linked to a hit-and-run collision just five blocks from the arrest site. A search of the stolen Honda unearthed another loaded 9mm “ghost gun” in the glove compartment, along with a toolbox containing the parts for an AR-style rifle – including a critical “drop-in auto sear” designed to convert a semi-automatic weapon into a fully automatic machine gun. Dozens of rounds of ammunition, approximately 23 magazines, and a silencer were also recovered.
The search didn’t stop at the vehicle. A subsequent raid of Loftus’s residence turned up even more alarming findings: firearms, firearms cases, dozens of additional auto sears, and a large U.S. flag emblazoned with symbols consistent with the Boogaloo ideology. Loftus is already prohibited under California law from possessing firearms, adding another layer to the legal trouble he faces.
Federal prosecutors have charged Loftus with one count of possession of a machine gun, a felony carrying a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison. The FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the Los Angeles Police Department jointly investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorney Kathrynne N. Seiden of the Terrorism and Export Crimes Section is handling the prosecution. Loftus is expected to make his initial appearance in United States District Court in the coming days.
The Justice Department stresses that a criminal complaint only alleges that a defendant has committed a crime, and that every defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. However, the sheer volume of weapons and the alleged connection to an extremist movement paint a disturbing picture, raising questions about the growing threat of anti-government extremism and illegal firearms proliferation in Southern California.
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