City No Longer Doing Business with Man Convicted in Law Enforcement Scandal

The city of San Diego no longer has any contracts with a man convicted of whitewashing gun transactions in a major law enforcement scandal.

Giovanni “Gio” Tilotta, who operates a law enforcement and military supply business, was convicted of three felonies in 2022 related to a wide-ranging corruption case involving a former sheriff’s captain named Marco Garmo.

The convictions, however, did not slow down Tilotta’s business, as Voice of San Diego reported in November of last year.

Since his conviction, Tilotta had sold more than $1 million worth of goods to various city departments, including the Police Department and the Fire-Rescue Department, Voice revealed.

“The city no longer has a contract with Omni Equipment Solutions,” wrote Rachel Laing, a spokesperson for the mayor. Omni is the name of Tilotta’s supply business.

The largest string of purchases came from the city’s Contracting and Purchasing Department, which spent roughly $900,000 with Omni since Tilotta’s conviction.

Contracting and Purchasing officials purchased items from Omni to store in the city’s central warehouse. A city spokesperson was previously unable to say exactly what items had been purchased, but said the warehouse stores everything from shovels, flashlights and helmets to first aid kits.

The San Diego Police Department had spent more than $230,000 with Omni since Tilotta’s conviction. SDPD made large purchases of night vision equipment and also bought pistol magazines and other gear from Omni.

Tilotta played a very specific role in a scandal with many different moving parts. The scandal revolved around Garmo, the former sheriff’s captain, who wielded immense power in East County. It involved gun trafficking, tip offs about sheriff’s raids and influence peddling.

Garmo, according to federal prosecutors, abused his badge in myriad ways.

One part of the scheme involved tip offs to marijuana dispensaries before sheriff’s raids. Garmo – or one of his associates – would alert dispensaries of an impending raid, so they could relocate their product. Dispensaries meanwhile paid “consulting” fees to one of Garmo’s associates for the information.

Garmo received 10 percent in kickbacks from the consulting fees, prosecutors say.

The part of the scheme involving Tilotta, who had a license to deal firearms, related to illegal gun transactions.

Garmo would purchase “off-roster” guns – these are guns only available to members of law enforcement in California – with the intent of later selling them to civilians. Garmo made money from selling the guns, but he also had a larger purpose: He wanted to gain influence with rich, gun-loving San Diegans like jewelry store owner Leo Hamel.

Garmo planned to run for sheriff one day and he hoped people like Hamel would fund his campaign.

When someone buys a gun with the intent of selling it to someone else, as Garmo did, prosecutors call it a “straw purchase.” Tilotta helped conceal these straw purchases. He also backdated paperwork to help Garmo’s customers get around California’s 10-day waiting period to obtain a gun.

Tilotta did not respond to previous Voice inquiries and did not immediately respond to a voice message left with Omni. He is appealing his convictions in federal court.

During Tilotta’s trial, his lawyer argued that the three felony convictions would destroy his business. He would be forced into a new line of work entirely, his lawyer said. That did not turn out to be the case.

In the wake of Voice’s initial story, city officials said they were evaluating their relationship with Omni to determine whether it would continue.

For the time being at least, the business relationship is over. It’s unclear, however, whether it is over for good.

When asked whether the city had plans of entering into future contracts with Omni, Laing, the mayor’s spokesperson, did not answer.