An alleged Vancouver gang leader was sentenced Friday to five years in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Carlos Carmona-Gonzalez, 23, was found guilty Feb. 12. after a two-day jury trial.
In addition to prison time, U.S. District Judge Ronald Leighton also sentenced Carmona-Gonzalez to three years of probation.
Three police officers and another witness reported seeing Carmona-Gonzalez placing a rifle wrapped in a jacket in his friend’s car in July 2013. Police later stopped the car and recovered the rifle, which had been stolen from a garage.
Carmona-Gonzalez is a prominent member of the Sureños gang in Southwest Washington, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He is prohibited from possessing firearms because he has four previous felony convictions, all in Clark County, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Those are drug possession in 2011, attempted assault in 2009, and escape and assault in 2008.
The Longview Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives and the Vancouver Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Roscoe Jones and Jill Otake prosecuted the case.
