SPOKANE, Wash. – A Kennewick man is facing over six years of imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to two counts of possessing a firearm as a felon, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Washington.
Court documents say officers from the Kennewick Police Department responded to a hit and run incident on May 15, 2022 where officers found a vehicle on its side along a road.
The driver had driven onto the sidewalk, hit a pile of dirt and rolled onto its side. Officers found the vehicle unoccupied and with a handgun laying on the floorboard.
Witnesses said a man, later identified as 60-year-old Mark Steven White, climbed out of the window of the vehicle and ran away. KPD followed footprints near the vehicle to find White and detained him.
KPD cited White for the hit and run and let him go, however police kept his vehicle for an investigation. After gaining a search warrant, investigators found a handgun that had its serial number “obliterated” with and a loaded extended magazine.
A warrant for White’s arrest was later issued by the Washington State Department of Corrections. U.S. Marshals found White in West Richland in June 2023 where he was taken into custody after fleeing into an apartment.
Another search warrant was obtained by the FBI’s Southeast Washington Safe Streets Task Force for another of White’s vehicles. A second handgun was found, also with its serial numbers destroyed, along with body armor and a ballistic helmet.
“Mr. White was a felon, who on two occasions, just a few weeks apart, fled a vehicle and refused to cooperate with law enforcement,” said U.S. Attorney Vanessa Waldref. “On both occasions, Mr. White had a firearm he was not legally permitted to have. Armed felons present a real danger to our neighborhoods and communities.”
