A man wanted in connection with an armed carjacking in Washington state crashed a stolen car into a pole in Beaverton last month and was found with drugs and guns, according to a federal affidavit.
Willie Jewel Standley, 54, who was semi-conscious at the scene of the crash, has been hospitalized since the crash after undergoing surgery, but deputy U.S. marshals on Thursday wheeled him into a courtroom to face federal charges. Standley was still wearing a hospital gown.
Assistant Federal Public Defender Mark Ahlemeyer entered not guilty pleas on Standley’s behalf to a five-count indictment that charges Standley with possessing with intent to distribute fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine, being a felon in possession of a gun and possessing a firearm in the course of a drug-trafficking crime.
On Jan. 9, Standley crashed a red 1999 Mercury Grand Marquis into a light pole at the intersection of Southwest Barnes Road and Baltic Avenue, according to the affidavit.
The car with a Washington license plate had been stolen at gunpoint a day earlier in Tacoma, the affidavit said.
Standley was taken by ambulance to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center, where he underwent surgery.
Officers at the scene removed a black bag from him before he went to the hospital and found blue pills, drug packaging and a digital scale inside, the affidavit said. They also found more than $1,000 on him.
Police also searched a bag found in the white puffy jacket that was on the ground where Standley had been lying and seized a plastic bag containing 150 blue pills of fentanyl and another baggie containing methamphetamine, the affidavit said.
Officers also seized two guns from the car, including a loaded 9mm pistol from under the front passenger seat that had been reported stolen, according to the affidavit. A backpack on the front passenger seat contained another gun, a loaded .38-caliber revolver, the affidavit said. In the same bag, police found a prescription bottle bearing Standley’s name.
Standley has an extensive criminal record, including a 1989 conviction for murder in Little Rock, Arkansas, convictions for being a felon in possession of a firearm, burglary, kidnapping and domestic violence-related harassment in Washington state.
Ahlemeyer told a judge he plans to return to court to seek Standley’s release in the future but wasn’t ready to do so on Thursday.
Standley’s release from the hospital was unexpected by his care team, which will work to find an appropriate facility for him to receive needed medical therapy after having suffered a traumatic brain injury, Ahlemeyer said.
