Items found in shooting victim’s car in 2012 leads to 22-year prison sentence

A man shot in a gun battle on Spokane’s lower South Hill in 2012 was recently sentenced to more than 22 years in prison for the drugs, explosives and cash police found in his car after the shooting.

At the time police called the April 2012 incident near 1800 W. Sixth Ave. a botched drug deal. Moses Lake resident Arthur Frank Cardenas, 37, received a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.

Police found a hand grenade, explosive powder, nearly 244 grams of pure methamphetamine and more than $17,000 cash in Cardenas’ car, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Bullets from Cardenas’ gun, a Walther PPK/S, were found in a nearby home after the shooting.

Cardenas, who has a lengthy criminal history, was found guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm, being a felon in possession of an explosive device, possessing an unregistered firearm, possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

U.S. District Court Judge William F. Nielsen ordered Cardenas to serve five years of probation after he completes his 270 month prison term.