ESPARTO, Calif. —

Inside a warehouse in a suburb of Los Angeles, the Cal Fire Office of the State Fire Marshal and the ATF seized nearly 500,000 pounds of illegal fireworks in May.

The raid took place about two months before the deadly fireworks explosion in Esparto .

According to the lawyer for the man who leased the property, the fireworks belonged to Kenneth Chee, owner of Devastating Pyrotechnics , which operated in Esparto.

Randy Roxson, attorney for Johnny Chek, said Chek allowed Chee to store his commercial-grade fireworks in his facility in Commerce, CA. He said Chek assumed the fireworks were legal and that Chee had a license.

Cal Fire investigators deemed the fireworks found in Chek's warehouse dangerous and illegal. Roxson said authorities did not remove those fireworks

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