MIDDLETOWN – Sheriff's deputies arrested a Middletown man on Friday for possession of machine guns and a silencer.

A report released Tuesday by Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Cecil Brown said Dale Robert Runnings, 45, was arrested May 25.

Brown reported that sheriff's detectives Brian Kenner and Steve Brooks, Sgts. Dave Perry and Corey Paulich, and Deputy Gary Frace served a search warrant on Runnings' Middletown home.

The warrant, said Brown, ordered the officers to search the property for machine guns and silencers, the possession of which are felonies under California law.

During the search, Runnings directed the officers to two machine guns – an M11-A1 .380 caliber sub-machine gun and a Sten MkII 9 millimeter sub-machine gun. Brown said officers also found a silencer which could be attached to the barrel of the M11-A1.

In addition, high capacity magazines for both weapons were seized, along with illegal fireworks, Brown reported.

Officers arrested Runnings, a construction worker, on felony counts of possessing the machine guns and the silencer, according to Brown's report.

Runnings, who was booked on $20,000, was still in the Lake County Jail Tuesday night, jail records showed.

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