L.A. man charged after son, 14, takes loaded gun from home

By Dan Whitcomb LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Los Angeles man was charged with multiple criminal counts on Friday after prosecutors said he allowed his 14-year-old son to take a loaded gun from the family's home to confront three other teenagers in the neighborhood. The case marked only the second time that the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office has ever charged a defendant with failing to properly secure a gun at home. In October, a Los Angeles woman was charged with allowing her 17-year-old son to bring a .45 caliber semiautomatic handgun and an extra round of ammunition to his high school, where it was spotted in his backpack and confiscated. On Friday, prosecutors said in a statement that the 14-year-old boy took a loaded semiautomatic handgun from his father's bedroom in September and brandished it at three other teens with whom he'd had a conflict. His father, 54-year-old Santiago Chavez, was later arrested after telling school police that he had kept the loaded firearm under a towel in an unlocked dresser drawer and that his son knew where it was, according to prosecutors. Chavez was charged with allowing a child to carry a firearm off-premises, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and permitting a child to be placed in a dangerous situation, the statement said. Each count carries a maximum sentence of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine, and prosecutors said they would also seek to bar Chavez from owning firearms. (Reporting by Dan Whitcomb)