Portland Gang Associate Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison After Being Convicted on Federal Gun Charge

Defendant, an Armed Career Criminal, told the police he was “hunting” a rival

PORTLAND, Ore. – August 11, 2014, Eddie Ray Strickland, Jr., 35, of Portland, Oregon, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison after he was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm and the Court finding that he qualified as an Armed Career Criminal. Following his federal prison sentence Strickland will be required to serve three years of supervised release, which includes a condition prohibiting the defendant from associating with any known gang members.

On July 27, 2011, the defendant, a multi-convicted felon, was arrested and found in possession of two loaded firearms that were located inside of his residence. Earlier that day, the Portland Police Bureau’s Gun Task Force received information that the defendant had been in numerous fights with his girlfriend and during the most recent altercation he held a gun to her head and said “[i]f you don’t shut up, I’ll kill you and everyone else in the house.” This incident occurred in front of her young children. Officers also received information that about a month prior to this incident the defendant had also threatened his girlfriend with a gun and then fired a shot in her direction which left a hole in the couch she was sitting on. The officers knew the defendant was a felon and thus prohibited from possessing a firearm. With this information officers applied for a state search warrant, which was granted. Later that day, officers executed the search warrant on the defendant’s residence located on NE 49th Avenue, Portland, Oregon.

During the execution of the warrant by the Portland Police Bureau Special Emergency Reaction Team (SERT), officers found two loaded firearms, a Kel-Tec .380 caliber handgun and a Taurus .40 caliber handgun, inside a crawl space under the stairs.

After he was arrested, Portland Police Detectives with the Gang Enforcement Team interviewed the defendant. During the interview the defendant admitted that the two firearms were his and that he had the guns for “protection.” When the detectives asked why he needed the guns for “protection,” the defendant told the detectives that he and another person have both been looking for each other and they want to shoot each other. The defendant believed the other individual killed his brother in a gang shooting so the defendant was “hunting” him in an effort to try and kill him or the person’s brother. The other individual knew this, and according to the defendant, the other individual had been trying to kill the defendant before the defendant gets to him. Thus, as the defendant told the detectives, he needed the guns for “protection.” The defendant also said he had two guns so he could carry one and leave the other in the house.

The defendant was indicted in federal court on August 10, 2011, for felon in possession of a firearm and pled guilty to the charge on October 16, 2013. At the time the defendant possessed the firearms he had previously been convicted of, and received state prison sentences for, the following felony crimes:

    Attempted Robbery in the First Degree, in 2005;

    Attempted Robbery in the First Degree, in 2005;

    Unlawful Possession of Firearm in the First Degree, in 1999; and,

    Robbery in the Third Degree, in 1998.

“When Congress passed the Armed Career Criminal Act, the defendant was exactly the type of criminal it had in mind – an individual who repeatedly engages in violent felonies and places the community at substantial risk of harm,” noted U.S. Attorney S. Amanda Marshall. “When a batterer has a gun, the risk of intimate partner homicide is increased more than five times than in instances where there are no weapons. Quite simply, without police intervention, this defendant was a homicide waiting to happen. This lengthy prison sentence protects the public from this defendant and also sends a strong message of deterrence to violent felons that they will pay a steep price for unlawfully possessing firearms.”

This case was investigated by the Portland Police Bureau’s Gun Task Force, Portland Police Bureau’s Gang Enforcement Team, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The case was prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorney Scott Kerin, the Chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Drug Unit and former head of the Gang and Sex Trafficking Prosecution Team.