California Man With Underground Bunker, Weapons Cache Arrested In CHP Raid

Reminder to Californians; you do not live in a free state, and they don’t play around. 

Last week the California Highway Patrol (CHP) announced that they arrested Michael Jay Kamfolt, a 40-year-old conservative activist who has an underground bunker containing a cache of ‘illegal weapons,’ ammo, and body armor. 

After receiving tip about an illegal marijuana grow operation, CHP Air Operations conducted a flyover of the property located in the city of Anderson, located around 150 miles north of Sacramento in Shasta County. 

Authorities conducted a month-long investigation of the property owned by Kamfolt, after which CHP executed a search warrant at the location on Jan. 20. 

And while they didn’t find any weed being grown, officers recovered 13 firearms – including three AR-style assault rifles, one of which was a “ghost gun” without a serial number, along with a sawed-off shotgun and two firearms that had been reported stolen, one in 2016 and the other in 1978. 

A ‘ghost gun’ can be assembled at home, which is usually milled out of a hunk of aluminum or 3D printed. 

The bunker, equipped with power, ventilation, a concrete floor with built-in drainage, and the necessary supplies to grow weed, also contains a home gym, armchair, television, and workbench with a Bennington flag.

Investigators also found roughly 10,000 rounds of ammunition – an amount not uncommon among enthusiasts and preppers, including armor piercing rounds, 30 high-capacity magazines, and four soft-body armor vests. 

“During the search, officers discovered an underground bunker accessible through a 100-foot-long culvert,” reads a press release. ‘The bunker was equipped with power, ventilation, a concrete floor with built-in drainage and the necessary supplies to cultivate marijuana.” 

Kamfolt was arrested and booked for the following: 

• 30605(a) PC – Possession of an Assault Rifle
• 30600(a) PC – Manufacturing of an Assault Rifle
• 33215 PC – Manufacturing of a Short Barreled Rifle
• 32625(a) PC – Possession of a Machine Gun
• 32625(b) PC – Converting a firearm into a Machine Gun
• 23920 PC – Possession of an Altered Firearm Serial Number
• 24610 PC – Manufacturing and Possession of an Undetectable Firearm
• 496(a) – Possession of a Stolen Firearm
• 29180(b) PC – Manufacturing of a “Ghost Gun”
• 30315 PC – Possession of Armor Penetrating Ammunition
• 32310(C) PC – Possession of High Capacity magazine

He was held in the Shasta County Jail overnight. Bail was set at $50,000 and he is no longer in custody according to county jail records.

According to county records available so far, Kamfolt is not facing federal charges. Some of his alleged offenses — such as owning a machine gun — are only illegal in certain states such as California, while other allegations, like obliterating an identifying marker on a firearm, also violate federal gun laws. 

Kamfolt was also active in local politics:

In November of 2024, the day before the presidential election, Kamfolt visited the county election office with Supervisor Crye who said he’d just met Kamfolt that day. Speaking to a reporter, Kamfolt expressed his support for Crye’s work in the community and his interest in the importance of this particular election. He said he wanted to observe for himself that it was being facilitated correctly. At the time, former Registrar of Voters Tom Toller was running the election office. 

A few days later, Kamfolt made an appearance at a county board meeting alongside members of the local Cottonwood Militia. The group showed up after community member Jenny O’Connell-Nowain was arrested for allegedly disrupting the meeting. She was protesting statements by Supervisor Patrick Jones about another election official, former Assistant Registrar of Voters Joanna Francescut. Earlier this month, O’Connell-Nowain was found guilty of disrupting that meeting by a Shasta County jury. -Shasta Scout

“This operation went far beyond an illegal grow,” said CHP Northern Division Chief John Pinoli. “The combination of a hidden bunker and an alarming cache of illegal firearms and ammunition highlights the threat posed to public safety.”

Again, Californians – your state doesn’t play around.