Kennewick felon who ‘cannot or will not control’ his violence returning to prison

A repeat Kennewick felon with a long history of violently beating people is heading back to federal prison for another 6 1/2 years.

This time, Marc Steven White, 44, who also goes by Mark, pleaded guilty to being a felon possessing a gun.

Kennewick police seized one gun from White after he crashed a vehicle in May 2022, and about three weeks later he already had another firearm, according to federal court documents.

Both had serial numbers obliterated.

“The sole reason for an individual to possess a firearm with an obliterated serial number is to avoid detection and engage in crimes without being tracked,” said Rebecca Perez, assistant U.S. attorney in Eastern Washington, in a court document. “Defendant’s ability to quickly obtain not just firearms, but firearms which are particularly valuable to criminals, demonstrates the level of criminal thinking and activity which surrounds defendant.”

“Defendant is violent, regardless of who is watching, his location, or the potential consequences,” according to Perez. “He simply cannot or will not control himself.”

Perez said White is associated with the Gypsy Jokers motorcycle gang and law enforcement officers have watched him develop into a violent offender.

His history includes eight assault convictions or theft convictions that included assaults starting when he was a juvenile and began punching a victim in the face because the victim flipped him off, according to a court document.

In one 2001 case he began hitting a victim without provocation, causing significant facial injuries. That same year he caused life-threatening injuries to a victim he hit in the head, according to a court document.

In one of two 2003 theft convictions he kicked and hit a victim over the head with a glass picture frame and in the other he punched a victim and demanded their property, according to a court document.

In a 2019 third-degree assault conviction, he threatened to shoot a victim and told him he would be killed, according to Perez. He struck the victim in the head with a club, fracturing the victim’s skull and breaking his arm, she said.

White’s attorneys submitted a Benton County court document that said the victim’s drug use may have prevented an accurate account of that assault and injuries could have been caused by jumping out of a moving vehicle.

White’s violent behavior continued when he was incarcerated, including breaking the eye socket of another inmate, according to Perez.

That case is pending and he has not been convicted, according to his attorneys, Christine Bennett of Richland and Rick Smith of Yakima.

Gun found in rolled car

White has spent two decades in federal prison or on federal probation, according to court documents. He also was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison in 2004 for being a felon in possession of a gun.

The sentence handed down Tuesday by U.S. Judge Mary Dimke in the Yakima U.S. Courthouse stemmed from a Kennewick Police Department case.

Officers found a stolen Toyota 4Runner that had driven onto the sidewalk, hit a pile of dirt and flipped on its side at 1717 S. Garfield St., in Kennewick. A person who lived nearby said they saw a man climb out of the window of the 4Runner and run away.

Officers arrested White four blocks away. His shoes matched the shoe prints leading from the 4Runner, according to a court document.

A loaded 9MM semi-automatic handgun with an extended magazine was found in the 4Runner, according to a court document.

On June 23, 2022, U.S. Marshal’s spotted White driving a Chevrolet Avalanche in West Richland. A warrant for escape of community custody on a third-degree assault charge had been issued for him.

They followed him to Kennewick, where in fled into an apartment on Ninth Avenue before marshals took him into custody, according to a court document.

In the Avalanche, a .45 caliber pistol, body armor and a ballistic helmet were found, according to a court document.

“Our community is safer with Mr. White behind bars,” said Richard Collodi, special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Seattle Field Office.

Vanessa Waldref, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, said, “Armed felons present a real danger to our neighborhoods and communities.”

Dimke sentenced White to three years probation after he serves his prison term.

The case was investigated by the FBI’s Southeast Washington Safe Streets Task Force — which includes officers and detectives from the Kennewick, Pasco and Richland police departments — Border Patrol and Department of Corrections. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Stephanie Van Marter and Perez.