Sunnyvale apartment manager charged with running gun, drug operation

A Sunnyvale apartment manager has been charged with allegedly operating a gun- and drug-dealing operation next door to an elementary school, prosecutors said.

Brett Maxwell, 51, faces 25 felony charges related to possessing firearms, assault weapons, ghost guns, explosives, and narcotics for sale. The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office said Wednesday the alleged operation involved heroin and methamphetamine worth an estimated $100,000.

The charges stem from a Nov. 13 search by the Santa Clara County Gun Violence Task Force at Maxwell’s apartment in the Fair Oaks Park area and at a storage unit several miles away. Investigators recovered 19 firearms, including three assault weapons, along with explosives, cash, and several pounds of drugs, according to the District Attorney’s Office. The apartment complex is located next to an elementary school and a city playground.

“We will never accept turning our neighborhoods into gun and drug bazaars. Thanks to the partnership between local and federal law enforcement agencies, we shut down both this extremely dangerous business and the reckless felon who ran it,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement.

Maxwell was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday. He faces a significant prison sentence if convicted, prosecutors said.