Federal agents executed a search warrant Thursday morning at a Laguna Beach home in the 1100 block of Catalina Street, authorities said. The warrant was sealed and additional details were unavailable, said Rukelt Dalberis, a spokesperson for the FBI Los Angeles office. Federal authorities declined to comment on whether the Laguna Beach search was connected to the nationwide investigation of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Laguna Beach police officers assisted the FBI in their active investigation at the Catalina Street residence. Garrett Andrew Gauvain, 49, was arrested by Laguna Beach officers on suspicion of possessing a firearm in violation of a state law that prohibits people with certain misdemeanor convictions from owning firearms. He was booked at the Laguna Beach Police Department and later posted bail, Lt. Jim Cota, a Laguna Beach police spokesperson, wrote in an email. (…) Thursday’s raid wasn’t Gauvain’s first arrest. In February 2016, Gauvain pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery with serious bodily injury. He was sentenced to three years probation, 45 days of physical labor, and restitution. Despite his guilty plea, Gauavain defends his actions in the April 2015 incident. Gauvain claims he was hanging out with a female coworker at a Laguna Beach pub when a man grabbed her buttocks. “He threw a punch and missed me. I threw a punch and didn’t miss,” Gauavain. “I was defending the honor of a woman. It’s not like I was out beating other people on the street.” Even though judges ask defendants if they agree to the terms of a plea deal, Gauavain claims he didn’t know his criminal case settlement barred him from owning firearms. He doesn’t recall if his defense attorney advised him of this 10-year restriction. In 2017, Gauavain was involved in a domestic disturbance that concluded with Laguna Beach police taking possession of his revolver, he said. The Department released the gun to him about two months later. Gauvain questions why police returned his revolver if he wasn’t allowed to own it. The firearm confiscated Thursday by Laguna Beach officers was not any weapon Gauvain may or may not have had in 2017, Cota wrote in a text message. Through a spokesperson, Gauvain disputed this statement Friday.
via lagunabeachindy: Man arrested during FBI raid of Laguna Beach home