Vancouver man gets 9 years for illegal gun possession

A Vancouver man was sentenced Monday to nine years in prison after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Dusty L. Bartlett, 37, also received three years of supervised release to be served after the nine-year term, as part of U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Settle’s punishment.

Bartlett pleaded guilty Feb. 8 in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to the illegal gun possession charge.

Bartlett’s case surfaced July 2, 2011, when his car was stopped by a Clark County Sheriff’s deputy for a traffic violation. He was found wearing a shoulder holster for a firearm and a semiautomatic pistol was later discovered in the car’s center console, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Bartlett was prohibited from having any firearms because of “numerous” prior felony convictions in Washington, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Bartlett’s previous felonies include armed robbery in 1990; unlawful possession of a firearm in 1996; possession of methamphetamine while armed with a firearm in 1996; assault in 2002 and 2008; and theft in 2010.

Deputies said they also found methamphetamine in Bartlett’s car during the traffic stop.