PORT ANGELES — The U.S. Marshals Service arrested a 32-year-old Port Angeles man for investigation of a federal probation violation in a multi-agency operation Wednesday.
Leo Claude Blanton was taken into federal custody without incident behind a residence at 1223 S. I St. in west Port Angeles at about 9:40 a.m., Port Angeles Deputy Police Chief Brian Smith said.
Port Angeles police, Clallam County sheriff’s deputies, Sequim police, the U.S. Border Patrol and the Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team assisted the marshals.
“We had sufficient resources to make sure that he was taken into custody safely,” Smith said.
“We established a perimeter given the potential risk.”
Blanton was charged December 2011 in U.S. District Court in Tacoma with one count of felon in possession of a firearm.
He allegedly possessed six firearms — a 12-gauge shotgun, .30-caliber rifle, two .22-caliber rifles, a .357-caliber revolver and a .30-06-caliber rifle that had previously been shipped and transported in interstate and foreign commerce — after a domestic dispute in Port Angeles in August 2011, federal court papers said.
Blanton had previous convictions of possession of methamphetamine, forgery, two counts of third-degree assault, second-degree possession of stolen property and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, charging papers said.
He pleaded guilty to felon in possession of a firearm and was sentenced in March 2012 to three years in federal prison and placed on supervised release last July.
Blanton allegedly failed to report for substance abuse testing, used an uncontrolled substance, consumed alcohol in violation of the terms of his release and failed to report to federal authorities, according to the federal warrant petition.
A federal probation officer determined in the November petition that Blanton was a flight risk and a danger to the community.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
