Coos County Felon Receives 15 Year Prison Term

EUGENE, Ore. – Christopher Michael Morgan, 42, a resident of Coos County, Oregon, appeared before United States Chief District Court Judge Ann Aiken in Eugene today, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison for being an armed career criminal. Morgan, a felon, was found in possession of a loaded .45 caliber pistol while in a woman’s restroom at Mingus Park in Coos Bay, Oregon on June 18, 2013.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Morgan and a woman, both with outstanding warrants, were inside the women’s restroom at Mingus Park. A Coos Bay police officer confronted Morgan in front of the bathroom and attempted to arrest him for violating his Oregon parole. Morgan fought the officer and during the struggle held a loaded pistol, then tossed it away. After Morgan was subdued, methamphetamine was located in his shirt pocket. In addition to the federal charges, Morgan was also charged in state court with firearm and drug offenses, and resisting arrest. Morgan plead guilty on July 30, 2014, as part of a global resolution of his federal and state charges.

Morgan qualified to be sentenced as an armed career criminal because he possessed the loaded pistol after having been previously convicted of four residential burglaries and a felony assault. He had also been convicted six times in Oregon courts for possessing methamphetamine and once for being a felon in possession of a firearm. According to court documents, Morgan has been convicted of fifteen felonies and more than a dozen misdemeanors over the past twenty-three years.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the Coos Bay Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank R. Papagni, Jr., with the assistance of Coos County Deputy District Attorney Steven Petty, prosecuted the case.