EVERETT — When the SWAT team descended on the Tulalip home last week, there were plenty of reasons for caution.
The man living there was well-known to police. His rap sheet included threats, assaults and brazen pursuits.
Detectives were told that in the few months he had been out of prison he had been using drug deals to amass firearms, including assault rifles. They were told he had a police uniform he planned to use in a robbery.
Word on the street — and later, allegedly from the suspect himself — was he was buying heroin and methamphetamine by the pound.
John C. Keinath, also known by his street name of “Flare,” was arrested Feb. 10. He’s now under investigation for 11 counts of being a felon in possession of firearms, drug crimes and trafficking in stolen property.
Keinath, 43, has “an extremely violent history,” Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Jennifer DeJong told a judge Wednesday. His bail remains at $1.5 million.
Keinath came under the scrutiny of the North Snohomish County Property Crimes Unit after police questioned a burglary suspect who explained that he traded his loot “to Flare” for heroin.
Detectives were told that Keinath had multiple security cameras that he’d monitor from his living room.
When the SWAT team entered his home in the 13000 block of Eighth Drive NE, they found Keinath in a master bedroom. He appeared high on drugs.
Inside a safe they found money and a loaded handgun, which was reported stolen out of Marysville. They found another handgun in a backpack next to the bed.
Detectives later searched a storage unit in Everett that Keinath allegedly rented Feb. 7. Inside they found stolen items including a movie projector, guitars and electronics. In the back corner they found an assault rifle. In a car outside Keinath’s home, they found another assault rifle and nine other guns.
Keinath allegedly told detectives that someone else owned the firearms, and that he typically would pick up about one pound of heroin and one pound of methamphetamine from his supplier, to sell and use.
Keinath’s felony convictions include a drive-by shooting and beating someone with a pipe.
He was convicted in 2010 of harassment and possessing a controlled substance. He reportedly threatened to kill a nurse who thought he was joking about wanting to name his newborn son after mob boss John Gotti.
In 2013, he was arrested days after driving a motorcycle more than 100 mph on Highway 9 to escape deputies. The manhunt started in Lake Stevens and included two helicopters.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.
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