A man with ties to a Vancouver street gang has been sentenced to eight years in federal prison for distribution of cocaine and distribution of crack cocaine.
Prosecutors presented audio recordings of Shawn A. Goldfinch, a member of the local Norteños gang, selling cocaine and crack cocaine on three occasions in February and March 2009. Goldfinch was arrested last fall by members of the Safe Streets Task Force; he was convicted in December.
The prison sentence, to be followed by five years of supervised release, was handed down Friday in Tacoma by U.S. District Judge Robert J. Bryan.
The Norteños were founded in the 1960s in California. The gang has members throughout the country involved in drug trafficking, extortion and intimidation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Goldfinch, a Vancouver resident, is a “hardened, vicious gang member,” according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike Dion, who prosecuted the case.
Goldfinch, 27, has been convicted of crimes 12 times since 2001, according to the bulletin.
In court documents, Dion wrote that in prison, Goldfinch punched an inmate for saying something he didn’t like about football.
“Crime and violence seems to be just part of who he is,” Dion wrote.
The Safe Streets Task Force is made up of law enforcement officials from the Vancouver Police Department, the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, the Washington State Department of Corrections and the FBI. Its focus is on violence committed by gangs.
Pizza deliveryman assaulted, robbed
A Pizza Hut deliveryman bringing an order to the Ashley Terrace Apartments, 4500 Nicholson Road, north of East Fourth Plain Boulevard, was robbed about 9:25 p.m. Friday.
The deliveryman brought two pizzas and a soda to a building at the complex. He was accosted in the parking lot by a group of three or four males in their late teens who wore dark clothing, said Sgt. Mark Blaisdell with the Vancouver Police Department.
One robber hit the deliveryman in the back of the head, but the victim wasn’t injured. The robbers fled with the food.
When police arrived, the residents of the apartment where the deliveryman was headed said they had not ordered any pizza, according to emergency radio traffic monitored at The Columbian. The restaurant later reported the order was placed by a first-time customer with an Oregon cell phone number, who said he would pay cash.
Several people were detained for questioning, but the robbers escaped, Blaisdell said.
Second suspect arrested in November robbery
A second suspect has been arrested in connection with a Nov. 30 carjacking and robbery in the Sifton area.
Shaun Ray Wills, 26, of Vancouver was arrested on suspicion of first-degree robbery and booked into the Clark County Jail. That’s where another alleged perpetrator, Larry A. Stanfill, 25, has been held since his arrest in December.
Deputies are still seeking the identity of a third suspect, believed to be the getaway driver. She is described as a white woman approximately 30 years old.
The robbery occurred at a home at 13711 N.E. 76th St. A vehicle and an iPhone were reportedly taken.
Anyone with a tip on the getaway driver’s identity is asked to call the sheriff’s Tactical Detective Unit, 360-397-2211, ext. 3372.
Four arrested in connection with burglaries, auto thefts
Four Vancouver men have been arrested in connection with a series of burglaries and auto thefts that occurred in Clark and Cowlitz counties over the past three months, according to a bulletin from the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.
In total, the men were linked to 13 burglaries and nine stolen vehicles, according to the sheriff’s Tactical Detective Unit.
The suspects and allegations:
o Robby Carl Grant, 27, first- and second-degree burglary, ex-felon in possession of a firearm, trafficking stolen property and automobile theft.
o Arik Vance Elliott, 20, second-degree burglary and theft of a firearm.
o Saber Ray Burruss, 21, second-degree burglary and automobile theft.
o Aaron A. Ast, 21, third-degree stolen property.
