COEUR D’ALENE - Alex James Ellenwood, 24, of Lapwai, Idaho, was sentenced today in United States District Court in Coeur d’Alene to 40 months in prison for unlawful possession of a firearm, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill also ordered Ellenwood to serve three years of supervised release and forfeit the firearm he illegally possessed. Ellenwood pleaded guilty to the charge on March 19, 2013.
According to the plea agreement, on September 5, 2012, Ellenwood was arrested at a Clearwater County campground on an outstanding warrant. During a search incident to the arrest, law enforcement found a Ruger.44 pistol in Ellenwood’s backpack. Ellenwood is prohibited from possessing firearms due to his 2008 conviction for assault with a deadly weapon, a felony punishable by a term of imprisonment exceeding one year.
The case was investigated by Nez Perce Tribal Police, Clearwater County Sheriff’s Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The case was prosecuted as part of Idaho’s Project Safe Neighborhoods Program, which seeks to reduce gun violence in Idaho.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys