Vallejo felon pleads guilty in court after police pursuit

A 27-year-old Vallejo man and previously convicted felon pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to possessing a firearm after a 2019 high-speed police pursuit.

Johnathan Blakeley entered his plea in a courtroom in the Eastern District of California in Sacramento, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert said in a press release.

According to court documents, on Sept. 20 Vallejo police officers attempted to stop Blakeley for a traffic violation, but he refused to yield and led police on a chase through town.

Blakeley eventually crashed his car on Interstate 80, got out of the vehicle and ran through several lanes of traffic. He then tried to get into the passenger seat of a car that had stopped.

After police apprehended Blakeley, they found a Glock 9 mm pistol with a high-capacity magazine in his car. He cannot lawfully possess firearms or ammunition because he has previously been convicted of three felony offenses, Talbert noted in the prepared statement.

When the current offense took place, Blakeley was on federal probation. He had just been released from federal prison less than 30 days prior, after having served a 30-month sentence for possessing a firearm as a felon.

During his guilty plea, he also admitted that he violated the terms of his federal supervision by committing this new offense while on supervised release for his previous federal offense.

Blakeley is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 11 by U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez, and Blakeley faces a maximum 10-year prison term and a $250,000 fine.

The case stems from an investigation by the Vallejo Police Department, with assistance from the FBI’s Solano County Violent Crimes Task Force and the Solano County District Attorney’s Office.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Adrian T. Kinsella is prosecuting the case as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.