PORT ANGELES — A fugitive from Alabama who was caught at the Port Angeles Walmart Supercenter last October has been sentenced to one year in Washington state prison on a local charge.
Dylan Keith Carroll, 24, was sentenced Tuesday in Clallam County Superior Court after pleading guilty to second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
A possession-of-a-stolen-vehicle charge was dismissed as part of a plea agreement.
Carroll allegedly escaped from a minimum-security prison in Deatsville, Ala., on Sept. 23 while serving time for an arson conviction.
The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office alleged in court documents that Carroll drove a stolen 2016 Chevrolet pickup to Forks while possessing a Glock 9 mm semi-automatic handgun.
Sheriff’s deputies received a tip that Carroll was at a Forks coffee shop Oct. 1, but Carroll had left the establishment before city and county officers arrived, according to the affidavit for probable cause.
Investigators said Carroll had given the stolen firearm to a relative at the relative’s request before he left Forks on Oct. 1.
Later that day, the wife of an Olympic National Park ranger reported seeing the pickup Carroll was driving on U.S. Highway 101 just east of Port Angeles.
Dispatchers had relayed a bulletin for authorities to be on the lookout for the pickup, according to the probable-cause statement.
Sheriff’s deputies spotted the vehicle in the Port Angeles Walmart parking lot and arrested Carroll without further incident.
The 12-month prison sentence was recommended by Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Sarah Acker and defense attorney Alex Stalker.
Carroll faced a standard sentencing range of 12 to 16 months.
“After serving his sentence in Washington, Mr. Carroll will be taken to Alabama to serve a much lengthier sentence,” Stalker wrote in a March 13 sentencing memorandum.
“Defense anticipates that Mr. Carroll will be serving roughly 7 to 10 years in Alabama, which does not include any potential additional charges or convictions Mr. Carroll almost certainly accrued as a result of the manner in which he left Alabama.
“There is no reason to give Mr. Carroll more than the bottom of the standard range.”
Clallam County Superior Court Judge Brian Coughenour followed the agreed recommendation.
Carroll will receive credit for time served in the Clallam County jail, Acker said in a Wednesday interview.
Carroll served 172 days in jail before he was transferred Wednesday to the Washington Corrections Center near Shelton.
A governor’s warrant from Alabama will ensure that Carroll is turned over to Alabama authorities at the end of his prison term in Washington, Acker said.
Carroll was serving the prison sentence in Alabama for setting fire to a hotel in Tallassee, Ala., in 2009.
________
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
