OAKLAND — An ex-convict suspected of selling illegal fireworks from a hidden stash with more than 3,000 pounds of the illicit explosives has been charged with multiple felonies, according to authorities and court records.
Cong Truong Dinh, 45, of Hayward, who was arrested June 26, is charged with the sale of a destructive device and possession of a destructive device, both felonies under state law.
He is also charged with possession of dangerous fireworks between 100 and 5,000 pounds without a valid permit and unlawful sale and possession of dangerous fireworks over 7,500 grains (one pound of powder), which are not classified and registered by the state fire marshal. Both of those offenses are violations of the state health & safety code.
Dinh, who is being held without bail for a Missouri parole violation, pleaded not guilty last week.
The illegal fireworks, which authorities said were primarily commercial grade aerial pyrotechnics and their launchers weighing 3,420 pounds or 1.71 tons, were seized June 26 at a storage facility on Doolittle Drive in San Leandro, where Dinh had been followed by Oakland police.
The seizure and arrest resulted from an investigation done by the police department’s Crime Reduction Team 3, which developed information shortly before Dinh’s arrest that he was selling illegal fireworks primarily in Oakland but also in other cities.
Police estimated the street value of the fireworks to be more than $50,000. Officials described them as extremely dangerous explosive devices with a considerable amount of firepower.
According to court documents, at about 8 p.m. on June 26, Dinh drove to a specific locker at the facility with customers in two vehicles following him. Undercover officers watched him open a storage unit and load multiple boxes of fireworks into the vehicles.
After money was exchanged and Dinh and the others started driving away, police stopped them. Officers recovered the key to the storage locker, a paybook of prices, which ranged from a couple hundred dollars to at least $1,000, and almost $8,000 in cash from Dinh, according to authorities.
The two other people were cited and released and police turned over all of the seized fireworks to the Alameda County Sheriff’s Bomb Squad for disposal.
According to authorities and court documents, Dinh is on parole for a drug conviction in Missouri that he was incarcerated for. He also has Alameda County convictions, including a prison stint for a conviction on the charge of assault with a firearm in 1996. He received probation for convictions on vehicle theft in 1995 and false imprisonment by violence in 2007.