REPEAT OFFENDER SENTENCED TO FOUR YEARS IN PRISON FOR BEING A FELON IN POSSESSION OF A FIREARM
Snohomish County Man with Lengthy Criminal History Found with Gun During Traffic Stop
ANDREW P. ROOT, 27, of Everett, Washington, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to four years in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm. ROOT has prior convictions in Snohomish County for First Degree Manslaughter, Second Degree Kidnapping, and Second Degree Assault, as well as a variety of drug, property and traffic crimes. At sentencing Chief U.S. District Judge Robert S. Lasnik told him “You don’t want to wake up and ask, what did I do with my life. This is your last chance. What you do with your life is on your back. You don’t want to waste your life.”
According to records filed in the case, at about 2:00 AM on May 6, 2006, a Washington State Patrol Trooper stopped the car ROOT was driving in the Everett area. As the officer was pulling the car over, it appeared ROOT placed something under the front seat of the car. ROOT got out of the car and made profane comments to the trooper. He was placed in the WSP patrol car. The trooper spotted the grip of a handgun under the front driver’s seat of ROOT’s car. Because of ROOT’s lengthy criminal history, he is precluded from possessing a firearm.
ROOT was indicted on December 20, 2006 and pleaded guilty on February 15, 2007.
In recommending a lenthy term of imprisonment, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Cornell wrote in his sentecing memorandum, “The variety of crimes committed by the defendant over the last eleven years is surpassed only by the severity of some of defendant's past crimes.”
ROOT was prosecuted as part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods program. Unveiled by President George W. Bush in May 2001, Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), is a comprehensive and strategic approach to gun law enforcement. PSN is a nationwide commitment to reduce gun crime in America by networking both new and existing local programs that target gun crime and then providing them with the resources and tools they need to succeed. Implementation at the local level -- in this case, in Snohomish King County -- has fostered close partnerships between federal, state and local prosecutors and law enforcement.
The case was investigated by the Washington State Patrol and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives.
The case was prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Adam Cornell. Mr. Cornell is a Snohomish County Deputy Prosecutor specially designated to prosecute drug and gun crimes in federal court.
For additional information please contact Emily Langlie, Public Affairs Officer for the United States Attorney’s Office, at (206) 553-4110.
