Vancouver man gets more than 6 years in Portland armed robbery

A Vancouver man was sentenced Wednesday to more than six years in federal prison for his role in an armed robbery of a drug dealer that ended in an exchange of gunfire in Portland.

Following the 77-month sentence, Anthony James Pastorino, 43, will be on supervised release for five years. Pastorino had pleaded guilty Feb. 2 in U.S. District Court in Portland to discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon.

In the early morning of Sept. 30, 2021, Pastorino, acting on the instructions of an accomplice, Seth Kamaile Teig, 38, also of Vancouver, waited outside an apartment complex on Hayden Island to rob a known drug dealer, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release, citing court records.

When the drug dealer arrived, Pastorino fired a gun and stole the drug dealer’s backpack. Pastorino and the drug dealer exchanged gunfire and both suffered serious injuries, according to the news release.

Pastorino and Teig fled and returned to Washington.

Portland police responded to the scene and found 18 shell casings, a trail of blood and Pastorino’s wallet. A resident of the complex also found a handgun later that day in some bushes. Investigators said they determined it was the gun Pastorino used during the robbery, the news release states.

Special agents from Homeland Security Investigations arrested Pastorino on Oct. 27, 2021. The agents said they saw gunshot wounds on his arm and thighs, according to the news release.

Teig was arrested Nov. 17, 2021, in a hotel room in Gresham, Ore. He was sentenced March 14 to about 7½ years in federal prison and five years of supervised release for orchestrating the robbery.