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PASCO Two roommates who are convicted felons have been charged in federal court with carrying loaded guns outside a Pasco hotel.
Ashone Hollinquest, 23, and Monya D. Townsend, 27, had both faced trials in Franklin County Superior Court for first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
But Tuesday, state prosecutors asked Judge Robert Swisher to dismiss the cases because they were now being handled in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington.
Criminal complaints were filed against Hollinquest and Townsend on March 2 for possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.
As convicted felons, both men had been ordered by the courts not to own or possess firearms.
Documents cite Hollinquest's second-degree man-slaughter conviction in the 2008 death of Tiairra Jo Garcia and Townsend's 2005 conviction for delivery of crack cocaine as a basis for the federal charges.
The complaint states they "did knowingly and intentionally receive and possess ... a firearm ... which had been shipped and transported in interstate commerce."
Hollinquest allegedly had with him a .357-caliber Rossi revolver, which was manufactured in Brazil. Its serial number was "obliterated," the complaint said.
The .380-caliber Colt pistol allegedly found in Townsend's possession was manufactured in Connecticut.
"Both firearms had traveled in interstate of foreign commerce to be located in Pasco, Washington on December 13, 2009," wrote Joel E. Miller Jr., a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms, in the three-page document citing probable cause for charges.
Pasco police were called to Pasco's Red Lion at 1:41 a.m. Dec. 13 for reports that two men in a burgundy SUV in the parking lot had guns. Those men later were identified as Hollinquest and Townsend.
Police said it started with an altercation between two groups at a bar inside the hotel, then moved to the parking lot when they were kicked out.
Security employees outside the hotel directed officers to the SUV, where they allegedly saw Hollinquest getting into the back seat with his hands in his waistband. Hollinquest was handcuffed and searched for weapons before being placed into a patrol car.
The revolver -- loaded with four rounds and the hammer locked back -- was found under the seat where Hollinquest had been sitting, said Franklin County court documents.
Townsend was in the front passenger seat and was detained. The pistol -- with six rounds of ammunition and the hammer locked back -- was "in open view" on the seat, documents said.
Miller noted in the criminal complaint that both men have multiple felony convictions.
Hollinquest pleaded guilty last July to second-degree manslaughter. He was in the van when Garcia, 19, was fatally shot in 2008, and he helped dispose of her body in the forest.
Hollinquest received a reduced sentence as part of a plea and was released from custody Aug. 11. He reportedly was on state Department of Corrections community supervision at the time of this gun arrest.
The year before, he pleaded guilty in Benton County to first-degree theft for stealing a rental car to skip town after Garcia went missing. The 2009 Toyota Corolla eventually was found abandoned and burned outside Chicago.
Hollinquest got two months in jail on that case.
In addition to the drug delivery conviction, Townsend got 10 months in jail in 2005 for having a gun in his car's trunk when police stopped his car after a house party shooting.
Tuesday in Franklin County Superior Court, Deputy Prosecutor Frank Jenny prepared an order for Swisher saying "the interests of justice and judicial efficiency would be served by dismissing the state charges" so the cases can be handled at the federal level.
The cases were dismissed without prejudice, meaning Franklin County prosecutors can refile if needed if the federal cases fall through.
-- Kristin M. Kraemer: 509-582-1531; kkraemer@tricityherald.com
