Portland man gets 2 years for La Center robbery

A Portland man was sentenced Monday in Clark County Superior Court to 28 months in prison for robbing another man at a La Center gas station.

Julian Karim Mackey, 51, pleaded guilty to amended charges of first-degree theft and fourth-degree assault.

La Center police officers were dispatched around 3 a.m. on Jan. 19, 2019, to a Shell gas station at 2814 N.W. 319th St. The victim called 911 after he was confronted by a man who flashed a gun and demanded his wallet, according to a probable cause affidavit.

The victim told responding officers that the suspect pulled up the bottom of his sweater and displayed a pistol in his waistband, according to the affidavit. He handed over his wallet, and the assailant took his car keys and tossed them so he couldn’t get inside his car and use his cellphone to call for help, court records say.

The victim told police he had $2,300 and three credit cards in his wallet when he was robbed.

Washington State Patrol troopers pulled over a green SUV associated with the suspect a short time later on southbound Interstate 5 at Marine Drive in Portland; the victim fingered Mackey as the robber, stating he was “100 percent sure” of the identification, the affidavit says.

Camara Banfield, Clark County chief criminal deputy prosecutor, said Mackey’s sentence was an agreement between parties and accepted by the court based on the circumstances.

Mackey was originally charged with first-degree robbery and faced a third-strike offense. If convicted, it would have meant life in prison for Mackey.

“We don’t believe the community would have found it just for him to spend the rest of his life in prison based on the facts of the case,” Banfield said.

The victim was not injured as a result of the theft, and his money was recovered at the scene, according to Banfield.