A Cherry Valley man and his two sons accused of storing ammunition generally restricted for military use underneath a shed next to their home must stand trial on multiple felony charges, a judge ruled Thursday.
Bruce William Borynack, 50, and his sons, 25-year-old Zackariah William Borynack and 23-year-old Zephaniah John Borynack, were arrested Oct. 6 after Riverside County sheriff's deputies discovered a cache of ammo in a hidden compartment adjacent to their single-story house.
Following a roughly 2 1/2-hour preliminary hearing at the Riverside Hall of Justice, Superior Court Judge Mac Fisher found there was sufficient evidence to bound the trio over for trial on 14 counts of unlawful possession of explosive or destructive devices.
Fisher also ruled there was evidence to justify sentence-enhancing allegations that Bruce and Zackariah Borynack had committed the felonies while out on bail.
The judge scheduled a post-preliminary hearing arraignment in the case for Nov. 7. Meantime, each defendant remains held in lieu of $500,000 bail at Smith Correctional in Banning.
During the hearing, the prosecution called sheriff's Deputy Daniel Press, who described what he found at the Borynacks' residence at 10071 Nancy Ave.
According to the bomb technician, he scoured two locations - a so-called "reloading room" that consisted of an addition on the north side of the house, and a "bunker," which was found beneath a storage shed on the west side of the house.
The reloading room, named for the bullet reloading equipment found inside, contained several empty 20mm casings and several tracer components for .50-caliber and 20mm practice rounds, Press testified.
The underground compartment was discovered when a deputy stepped onto a soft spot in the floor of the storage shed and plunged through it, suffering minor injuries, according to the prosecution.
Press testified the compartment contained seven 20mm "target practice" tracer rounds - minus their casings - along with three 20mm incendiary rounds, also without casings. The hand-sized projectiles are regularly used by light-armored vehicles, snipers and aircraft equipped with cannons, according to the witness.
None of the seized projectiles could be fired in their raw configurations, Press said. He noted, however, that the tracers were live and could have been ignited.
"We handled these things very carefully," Press said. "These types of rounds would easily go off on impact."
The deputy testified that .50-caliber rounds were also found in the compartment, but they, too, lacked casings. No firearms were located during the search, according to Press.
Deputies executed a search warrant at the residence based on information that illegal activity was occurring there, authorities said.
Bruce and Zackariah Borynack were arrested and charged in August 2011 with 40 counts of being in possession of explosive devices. That investigation was initiated after Zackariah Borynack was stopped leaving the scene of a fire, and deputies allegedly found a homemade phosphorous smoke bomb and a zip gun in his vehicle.
A search of the Nancy Avenue property at that time led to the seizure of other smoke bombs, various types of military ordnance and gunpowder, according to Press.
The defendants are awaiting trial in that case. A status hearing is set for Oct. 29, during which Deputy District Attorney Mike Mayman is expected to request that the 2011 case and the current one be consolidated.
Reported by City News Service in Riverside
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