Allison Gatlin
A former Pacific Grove police
commander pleaded guilty Tuesday to possessing firearms stolen from Monterey
Peninsula College, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Since his arrest in March, John
Nyunt has faced a number of state and federal charges. The most recent of those
were filed last Thursday in the U.S. District Court, the Northern District of
California.
According to the complaint,
Nyunt knowingly possessed stolen assault rifles, shotguns and semi-automatic
pistols between August 2009 and November 2012. The firearms previously belonged
to MPC, which had planned to divest them at the closure of the police academy.
On Tuesday, Nyunt pleaded
guilty to possessing stolen guns, said Philip Guentert, assistant U.S.
attorney. Per the plea agreement, he will be sentenced to 30 months in prison
to run concurrent to his previous prison commitment.
In 2009, Nyunt was an
instructor at the MPC police academy, according to a release. MPC asked Nyunt
if the Pacific Grove Police Department would accept the firearms as a donation.
“Knowing that the PGPD did not
want the firearms, Nyunt signed a memorandum of understanding with the MPC that
falsely stated he was accepting the firearms on PGPD’s behalf,” according to
the release.
In actuality, Nyunt wasn’t
authorized to forge such an agreement, nor accept firearms for the Police
Department.
After MPC released the firearms
to him, Nyunt consigned most of them, including 27 Glocks and five Smith &
Wesson semi-automatic pistols, according to the release. The firearms dealer
then sold them over time, turning the profit — minus commission — over to
Nyunt.
Nyunt later took back five
Glocks and personally sold or gave them to other people, according to the
release.
Thursday’s charges are long
from the first for Nyunt.
The retired Pacific Grove
police commander was first arrested in March for threatening to kill his
ex-wife, Kristin Newell Nyunt. From there, the charges began to pile on.
In April, the Monterey County
District Attorney’s Office announced additional charges against Nyunt and
Kristin Newell Nyunt, stemming from their business, Nyunt Consulting
Investigations Services. The couple opened NCIS in 2010.
Through NCIS, the Nyunts defrauded
their victims of thousands of dollars by diverting criminal complaints from the
Police Department to the business, said prosecutor Steve Somers. Further, Nyunt
would close investigations that implicated his ex-wife as a suspect, Somers
said.
He also allowed his ex-wife
access to the confidential Police Department system she used to steal numerous
individuals’ identities, Somers said.
In April, Nyunt pleaded guilty
to second-degree commercial burglary, threatening a witness and being an
accessory after the fact in the state case. He was immediately sentenced to
three years in prison.
The following month, Nyunt was
charged with and pleaded guilty to wire fraud and extortion in U.S. District
Court. He was scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 2, but the hearing was postponed
until December.
Last week, when the charges
were filed he waived his right to an indictment. He offered his plea only four
days later.
Now, Nyunt is scheduled to be
sentenced in both federal cases in April 2015. If the plea agreement is accepted,
he’ll serve 30 months in prison instead of the maximum 10 years in prison and
$250,000 in fines.
