Vaca man gets nearly nine years for being a felon in possession of ammo
A 30-year-old Vacaville man was sentenced in federal court in Sacramento to eight years and 10 months in prison for being a felon in possession of ammunition, a U.S. Attorney said.
Guy Joseph Bass on Tuesday heard U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez hand down the sentence, said Phillip A. Talbert, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California.
According to court documents, between August 2020 and November 2020, Bass possessed three different loaded firearms. On Aug. 17, 2020, Bass' acquaintance drove him to the hospital, where Bass falsely reported to law enforcement that he had been shot by an unknown assailant, before eventually admitting that he had shot himself by accident. Officers recovered a stolen Walther P22 semi-automatic pistol from the acquaintance's vehicle, Talbert noted in a press statement.
On Sept. 18, 2020, Bass was arrested for an outstanding warrant. During the arrest, he admitted to having a firearm on his person. The loaded firearm was a non-serialized, privatelymade firearm, also known as a “ghost gun.”
On Nov. 18, 2020, law enforcement officers spotted Bass and another individual parked in Vacaville. After a police dog alerted officers to the presence of narcotics, Bass handed an officer a bag of methamphetamine. A search of the vehicle resulted in the discovery of a another loaded, privately made firearm, Talbert added in the release.
Bass is prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition because he has been convicted of several felonies, including a prior state conviction for possessing a firearm as a felon.
The case was the product of an investigation by the Vacaville Police Department, Fairfield Police Department, the Solano County District Attorney's Office, the FBI's Solano County Violent Crimes Task Force, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Adrian T. Kinsella prosecuted the case, part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice's violent crime reduction efforts and an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime.
PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.