SAN FRANCISCO — Three man have been charged with either selling methamphetamine or guns to undercover federal agents, including one Oakland man who allegedly used his houseboat on the Oakland marina to peddle firearms and brag about his knack for making customized bullets.
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In two federal cases, prosecutors have charged Aleksandr Akopov, Jacob Horowitz, and Vadim Kazakevich with federal offenses related to an undercover ATF and DEA investigation based in Oakland and San Francisco. While Horowitz is set to go before a judge for a detention hearing on Thursday, Akopov and Kazakevich have already been released from custody, despite efforts by prosecutors to first have them jailed, then to overturn a judge’s initial decision to free them.
Akopov is charged with being involved with both firearms and methamphetamine trafficking. Prosecutors allege he did this through his connections to both Horowitz — an alleged methamphetamine dealer who lived in San Francisco — and Kazakevich, an alleged gun trafficker with a houseboat at the Oakland marina.
On Sept. 15, DEA agents raided Horowitz’s home on the 100 block of Farragut Avenue in San Francisco and seized nine pounds of methamphetamine, according to the criminal complaint against him. Kazakevich, meanwhile, allegedly met with undercover ATF and DEA agents at Akopov’s behest, bringing him onto his boat and later to a nearby laundry room for gun deals, prosecutors say.
During one meeting, Kazakevich reportedly bragged about his ability to make or acquire bullets for nearly every occasion. He showed them his personal handgun, later agreeing to sell it for $1,000, and said he crafts “rubberized bullets” that “just make a dent in (expletive’s) head, knock him out,” mercury bullets that, “when you hit something, it blows up,” and “highly illegal” armor-piercing bullets that go through “police jackets.”
Kazakevich’s lawyers argued that prosecutors were falsely painting their client as a dangerous man and a potential flight risk.
“Vadim Kazakevich does not pose a danger to the community or to any person, and certainly not by clear and convincing evidence – unless one presumes him guilty of the charges,” a defense motion says, later adding, “Regarding flight risk, the government speculates that it is possible that the houseboat Mr. Kazakevich has lived in for the past three years in the Oakland Marina is operable. In fact, it is not. It has no engine.”
