A Scappoose man barred from having any guns after a domestic violence arrest was sentenced Tuesday to more than eight years in federal prison after he was found with more than 30 guns, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and multiple gun silencers, explosives and fentanyl in his truck and home.
U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut said the significant sentence was appropriate, considering Mitchell Alfred Gundy-Hampton’s arsenal.
Gundy-Hampton, 31, pleaded guilty in April to possessing with intent to distribute more than 40 grams of fentanyl and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug crime. The latter charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years.
Police stopped Gundy-Hampton on Dec. 18, 2020, in Scappoose after they received a report that a man was behind the wheel of a truck, possibly high or drunk with an illegal shotgun.
From his pickup, police seized an AK-47 rifle with a loaded magazine behind the driver’s seat, a backpack full of loaded high-capacity AK-47 magazines, handcuffs and a collapsible baton in the cab, and a pair of brass knuckles and loose ammunition in Gundy-Hampton’s front jacket pocket, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Nyhus. In the back seat, police found a 12-inch galvanized pipe with an end cap and wire wrapped around it, suspected to be a partially constructed pipe bomb, Nyhus said.
The state police bomb squad and Portland Metro Explosive Disposal Unit were called to help search his home and evacuated nine surrounding residences once police found evidence Gundy-Hampton was manufacturing explosives in his garage, Nyhus said.
Police found ballistic armor, eight demilitarized grenades, several bags of “Premium Cannon Hobby Fuse,” different chemicals used for improvised explosive devices, large quantities of gun parts and accessories, homemade suppressors using oil filters, high-capacity magazines and thousands of rounds of ammunition. They also found cash and drug records that referenced fentanyl, ecstasy and other pills and methamphetamine, Nyhus said.
Gundy-Hampton had been arrested in March 2020 in Marion County, accused in a domestic violence assault, and was barred from possessing guns as a subject of his pretrial release from custody, according to prosecutors. The domestic violence charges are pending, according to court records.
Gundy-Hampton admitted to police that he sold drugs to support his own drug use, according to an affidavit in support of a criminal complaint. He claimed he had guns in his truck to give to his girlfriend for protection against an ex-husband, the affidavit said.
Gundy-Hampton claimed he was making explosives since age 18 and “just doing some science (expletive),” Nyhus wrote in a sentencing memo.
Police also searched a former residence of Gundy-Hampton’s in Donald and found a “Chemical Engineer’s Handbook,” a Pepsi can filled with cement, bullets and ball bearings, a glass pipe for smoking methamphetamine, multiple targets that had been shot, another homemade silencer made from an oil can and an exploded fire extinguisher, the memo said.
Nyhus dismissed Gundy-Hampton’s explanation that he was “just a country kid” experimenting with science. He argued that Gundy-Hampton “just doesn’t understand the gravity” of his offenses and posed a serious danger to the community.
Defense lawyer John Robb said the federal prosecution has had a deep impact on Gundy-Hampton and he recognizes the recklessness and seriousness of his conduct and feels “guilt and shame.” Robb argued for a five-year prison term.
He blamed Gundy-Hampton’s unraveling on an addiction to opioid prescription medications that developed after a serious work-related injury to his thumb in June 2017. As for the explosives, Robb argued that the FBI did a thorough investigation and found Gundy-Hampton “created materials and would blow them up somewhere else.”
The judge said she still couldn’t understand why Gundy-Hampton had a police scanner, body armor, brass knuckles and multiple weapons. “Certainly, the picture suggests someone who is extremely paranoid and a danger,” Immergut said.
Robb told Immergut that Gundy-Hampton also had an extensive sexual video collection and some of that equipment went toward that interest.
Gundy-Hampton, dressed in blue jail scrubs, stood briefly to thank the judge for her time. His mother and father, sister and two friends attended the hearing.
