A Henderson County Traffic Stop Leads to a Federal Prison Sentence

TYLER – A 49-year-old Irving man has been sentenced in Tyler Federal Court to nearly 5 years in prison for being a felon in possession of ammunition. Gary Wayne Blanton pleaded guilty in April. He was sentenced Monday by U.S. Circuit Judge Catharina Haynes to 57 months in prison. In November of last year, Blanton was stopped in Gun Barrel City, at 3:00am, for driving a vehicle with no tail lights. When Blanton, who had an outstanding warrant against him, was asked to get out of the car, he sped away. After a few minutes, following a chase that topped 100 miles an hour, Blanton pulled over and surrendered.

In his car they recovered a stolen 9mm caliber semiautomatic pistol, a loaded Glock magazine, a bullet, and a digital scale in the trunk. They also recovered loose methamphetamine from the front passenger seat of the car and a small baggie of methamphetamine was found on the side of the road where Blanton was initially stopped. When he was being booked into jail, officers discovered two 9 mm. cartridges in his right front pants’ pocket.

When arrested, Blanton had previous convictions for theft of a firearm, burglary of a vehicle – habitual, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, and two convictions for unlawful possession of a controlled substance-amphetamine.