Lewiston Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Stealing Guns

COEUR D’ALENE – Jonathan Leo Pope, 25, of Lewiston, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 46 months in federal prison for possession of stolen firearms, Acting U.S. Attorney Rafael M. Gonzalez, Jr. announced today. Chief U.S. District Judge David C. Nye also ordered Pope to serve three years of supervised release following his prison sentence and to pay $5,800 in restitution to the victims of his offense. Pope pleaded guilty to the charge on June 10, 2020.

According to court records, on November 5, 2019, Pope entered the home of a Lewiston couple while they were away on vacation. During the burglary, Pope stole twelve firearms and coins. A day later, Lewiston Police detectives arrested Pope after identifying him as one of the burglars. Pope admitted to entering the home, stealing guns and coins, and helped officers recover the firearms. At the time of the burglary, Pope was prohibited from possessing firearms because of a 2015 conviction for possession of a controlled substance in Nez Perce County.

Multiple law enforcement agencies contributed to the successful prosecution of this case including the Nez Perce County Prosecutor’s Office, Lewiston Police Department, Clarkston Police Department, Whitman County Sheriff’s Office, and Asotin County Sheriff’s Office, who are all part of the Quad Cities Drug Task Force, as well as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who is not part of the task force but participates with it on a regular basis. The Quad Cities Drug Task Force is a multi-jurisdictional group of law enforcement officers working together to target drug trafficking in Lewiston and Moscow, Idaho, and Clarkston, Asotin, and Pullman, Washington.

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