A routine law enforcement operation took a strange turn when officers uncovered a hidden underground bunker packed with weapons at the home of a prominent MAGA activist.
Authorities said a secret cavern containing a home gym, armchair, and television was discovered beneath a Shasta County, California, property, alongside a cache of firearms, ammunition, and body armor. The bunker, located at the base of a 100-foot water drainage pipe, was decorated with a Bennington flag, a symbol carried by some supporters of President Donald Trump during the Jan. 6 riot.
It was also equipped with power, ventilation, a concrete floor with built-in drainage and the necessary supplies to cultivate marijuana, police said. Camo gear, tools, and artworks were also found alongside the huge personal arsenal.
Michael Jay Kamfolt, 40, was arrested on Jan. 20 after California Highway Patrol officers investigating a tip about an illegal marijuana farm executed a search warrant at his Anderson home after doing a fly-over to confirm their suspicions.
Kamfolt has been charged with a litany of firearm offenses, including “converting a firearm into a machine gun.” Officers seized 13 firearms, including three AR-15-style assault rifles and a sawed-off shotgun, along with four soft body armor vests, 30 high-capacity magazines, and more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition.
Two of the guns had been reported stolen, one in 2016 and another in 1978, according to the California Highway Patrol. “This operation went far beyond an illegal grow,” said 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.”
Kamfolt, a friend of far-right local official Kevin Crye, is a well-known conservative activist who parrots MAGA concerns about voting fraud.
He showed up at the local Shasta election office the day before the November 2024 presidential election and, three days later, gathered with known militia members at a Shasta County board meeting following the arrest of a protester. He is also an avid X-user, known to share pro-Nazi, antisemitic and Islamophobic content, as well as posts condemning anti-ICE protesters.
Shasta Scout reported that he was being held on bail of $50,000. However, he has since been removed from Shasta County’s in-custody database, suggesting that his bail was posted.
The investigation is ongoing, police said.
