Tacoma Felon Gets 10-Year Prison Term for Gun Possession
Defendant has Multiple Criminal Convictions in California and Washington
| U.S. Attorney’s Office October 06, 2010 |
BERNARD GLENN, aka “BK Boo,” 34, of Tacoma, Washington, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to 10 years in prison and three years of supervised release for being a felon in possession of a firearm. GLENN was convicted in February 2010, following a two-day jury trial. At sentencing, U.S. District Judge Ronald B. Leighton told GLENN, “Thus far in your life you haven’t seen any reason to change your lifestyle....You represent a danger to the community.”
According to records filed in the case and testimony at trial, in May 2008, members of the South Sound Gang Task Force were watching for a different felon at a Tacoma area night club. The officers tracked the other felon’s vehicle to the parking lot, and were watching it. The other felon had warrants out for his arrest. GLENN left the nightclub and got into the driver’s seat of the vehicle belonging to the other felon. Initially thinking GLENN was the vehicle’s owner, officers moved in and ordered GLENN from the car. When GLENN was taken into custody, he had a loaded 9mm pistol in his waistband. GLENN was prohibited from possessing a gun because of these prior convictions: cocaine possession, California, 1997; selling cocaine, California, 1997; possession of cocaine with intent to deliver, Pierce County, Washington, 2000; custodial assault, Thurston County, Washington, 2002; felon in possession of a firearm, California, 2003, possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, Pierce County, Washington, 2005. The other felon was arrested as he exited the bar, about two minutes after GLENN was removed from the vehicle.
GLENN’s lengthy criminal history prompted prosecutors to originally ask that he be considered an armed career criminal (ACC), which mandates additional prison time. However, review of the California convictions determined they did not qualify GLENN for the ACC status.
In asking for the 10-year sentence, the maximum allowed, Assistant United States Attorney Gregory A. Gruber argued that GLENN has earned the lengthy punishment. GLENN “is a multiple convicted cocaine dealer who was hanging out with another convicted drug dealer while again armed with a loaded gun. Besides this not being the first time the defendant has been convicted of possessing a firearm as a felon, it becomes all the more clear that Glenn has not learned the lessons meant to be taught by his numerous previous trips to prison when you consider that he assaulted prison guards during one of his more recent terms of incarceration,” Mr. Gruber wrote in his sentencing memo.
The case was investigated by the South Sound Gang Task Force made up of agents and officers of the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF), the Washington State Department of Corrections (DOC), the Washington State Patrol (WSP), the Tacoma Police Department, and the Lakewood Police Department. Additional assistance was provided by the Tacoma Police Gang Unit.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Gregory A. Gruber and Special Assistant United States Attorney Jerry Costello. Mr. Costello is a Deputy Pierce County Prosecutor who was specially designated to prosecute gun cases in federal court.
For additional information please contact Emily Langlie, Public Affairs Officer for the United States Attorney’s Office, at (206) 553-4110 or Emily.Langlie@USDOJ.Gov.