A Vancouver man was sentenced April 18 to more than 17 years in prison for his role in helping to sell stolen firearms in the trafficking scheme that led to the 2021 fatal shooting of Clark County sheriff’s Detective Jeremy Brown .

Charles Alfred Cooper Jr., 48, pleaded guilty in February in Clark County Superior Court to first-degree trafficking in stolen property, possession of a stolen firearm and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. He also pleaded guilty in an unrelated 2023 case to first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, court records show.

Guillermo Raya Leon, of Salem, Ore., shot Brown on July 23, 2021, as the detective conducted surveillance in his unmarked Jeep SUV at an east Vancouver apartment complex. Law enforcement officers from several agencies were watching Raya Leon, his brother and his brother’s wife as part of an investigation into the stolen firearms.

Prosecutors said Raya Leon’s sister-in-law, Misty Raya, initiated the firearms-trafficking scheme by breaking into a Hazel Dell storage unit and stealing dozens of guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition in June 2021.