KTLA

San Marino man accused of intentionally driving truck into Black Lives Matters protest freed on $10-million bond

Tiffany & Co. sits along Colorado Boulevard in Old Pasadena. A man accused of driving his truck through a crowd of protesters in the area in May and charged with conspiring to violate firearms laws has been released on bond.(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

A San Marino man accused of intentionally driving a truck into a crowd of Pasadena Black Lives Matter protesters and charged with conspiring to violate firearms laws will be released after his parents put up a $10-million property bond and he surrendered his stock of firearms, authorities said.

U.S. Dist. Court Judge Stephen V. Wilson signed an order that Benjamin Jong Ren Hung, who is accused of collecting weapons and building a training camp for civil disorder, will be placed on electronic monitoring and subject to drug testing after his release once federal authorities take control of the bond and an array of firearms discovered at his homes in San Marino and Lodi.


Hung drove a Dodge Ram truck flying three large flags related to right-wing extremist groups — a “Thin Blue Line” flag, a Gadsden “Don’t Tread on Me” yellow flag, and an original 13 states “Betsy Ross” American flag — into the crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters in the Old Pasadena shopping district in May, prosecutors said.

In court documents, federal prosecutors have shown Hung’s ties to anti-government extremists and his discussions about targeting Black Lives Matters protesters. Hung’s family owns a winery in Lodi and a recreation vehicle park in Oregon. Records showed Hung was still in the federal detention center in downtown Los Angeles on Friday morning.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.