Son of Gun Supply Store Owner Arrested on Firearm and Drug Charges

Kyle Dodge, who until this spring operated Dodge City Shooters Supply alongside his father, Rick, was arrested Saturday on felony gun and drug charges. 

Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Raquel Zick said that at around 12:45 a.m., deputies in the Isla Vista area witnessed 36-year-old Dodge ― driving a Dodge Charger Hellcat ― peel out in front of a group of pedestrians near Camino Del Sur. The deputies stopped him, and a search of his car yielded 90 grams of methamphetamine and 22 firearms, 12 of which were loaded. 

Dodge was booked in County Jail on multiple counts of possession of a controlled substance while armed (felony), possession of a silencer (felony), possession of an assault weapon (felony), carrying a loaded firearm in public (felony), possession of a high-capacity magazine (felony), manufacturing a short barrel rifle (felony), transportation of a controlled substance for sales (felony), and “exhibition of speed” (misdemeanor). He is being held on $500,000 bail.

The case, Zick said, has since been forwarded to Sheriff’s detectives, who conducted a follow-up search of Dodge’s home in Goleta, where they seized 70 additional firearms and approximately 50 containers of ammunition and magazines.

This is not the first time the family-operated Dodge City business or those associated with it has run afoul of the law. In 2006, federal agents swept through the store near the base of Highway 154 and seized hundreds of firearms. An employee had forged paperwork for nearly two dozen guns and sold them on the black market. A closer look at Dodge City’s bookkeeping turned up other records violations, which the business had been cited for in 2002, as well.

Correction: This post has been updated to reflect Kyle Dodge was no longer an active employee of Dodge City Shooters Supply at the time of his arrest.