U.S. Department
of Justice
Fresno County Man Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison for Being a Felon in Possession of a Firearm
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FRESNO, Calif. — U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neil sentenced Gary Lee Ortiz, 42, of Auberry, today to three years and one month in prison for being a felon in possession of a handgun with an obliterated serial number, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced. Ortiz was also ordered to pay $5,200 in restitution to the U.S. Forest Service for damaging public land and natural resources as a result of marijuana cultivation activities on and near his residence in the Mill Creek area of Auberry, California. According to court documents, on June 8, 2015, law enforcement officers found a large marijuana cultivation operation in the Sierra National Forest adjacent to Ortiz’s property located about four and one half miles from Shaver Lake. During a follow-up investigation of Ortiz’s property, agents seized a total of four firearms. Three of the firearms were found in and around a trailer on Ortiz’s property, and one of the firearms was a Herbert Schmidt, model E 15, .22 LR caliber revolver with the serial number obliterated. At the time, Ortiz was a convicted felon on probation for carrying a concealed weapon in a vehicle. Law enforcement officers eradicated 12,302 marijuana plants from public land and 444 marijuana plants from Ortiz’s property. |
This case was the product of an investigation by the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office, and the Fresno County Probation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Escobar prosecuted the case.