Authorities say criminal lawyer was paid in guns, drugs [UPDATED]

Updated with further details at 4:30 p.m.

A San Bernardino criminal defense attorney was arrested on suspicion of accepting guns and drugs in exchange for his legal services, authorities said.

Gary Stephen Redinger, 59, who once ran for Superior Court judge, was arrested last Wednesday morning after a search of his house turned up suspected methamphetamine and more than 30 firearms, according to San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Deputy Donald Patton.

Redinger’s son Patrick, 23, was arrested on an outstanding, no-bail warrant for violating terms of probation, Patton said.

Deputies recently received a tip from an informant that drugs were being sold out of Redinger’s north San Bernardino home.

When police arrived with a search warrant, they found handguns, semiautomatic weapons including a Tec-22, and an assortment of shotguns and rifles in a large safe in Redinger’s bedroom. They also found a surveillance camera out front, connected to a video monitor in the lawyer’s bedroom, Patton said.

“We found methamphetamine inside the safe,” he said.

Authorities said Redinger had been arrested once before on a traffic warrant. In that 2003 incident in Grand Terrace, he had two guns in his possession.

Patton said that, based on the evidence they had collected, investigators suspect Redinger was bartering his services for guns and drugs. He was booked on suspicion of operating a narcotics business from his home, possessing methamphetamine and furnishing it to other subjects, and possession of a controlled substance.

Redinger, who did not immediately return a phone call for comment, was booked into the West Valley Detention Center and released on $50,000 bail.

-- David Kelly

Comments

[logan9]

Isn't it about time we decriminalized drugs, specifically marijuana. It should be obvious by now that our entire system is corrupt!

[Da Maverick]

See, this is horrible. Poor people go to the worst schools, graduate from these schools with limited understanding and proficiency and hit a brick wall when it comes to getting job. They then make poor choices (like weapons dealing or drugs) and get arrested on them. The legal system then is supposed to saddle these poor defendants with a sub-par or overworked public defender who naturally, makes a deal that ends up with a guilty plea and a permanent black mark. Instead, these defendants pay their lawyer in something they have plenty of, and the lawyer now gets arrested. Thank you legal system.

[Adam]

Well. I guess we've got a real "Maverick" here, hearkening back to the days of good old Sarah Palin. At any rate, is your first name, "Da," or are you a D.A.? Or an innocent person who who has received unfair treatment dished out by a bumbling private attorney or public defender? Either way, you are an incredibly misinformed person.

[Los Angeles Criminal Attorney]

Let's wait and get the full picture. Even attorneys are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a Court of Law.