On February 13, 2017, Newport Police Officers received information that two male subjects, in a small tan hatchback vehicle, were in the Newport area trying to sell multiple firearms to another individual. The firearms were believed to have been stolen during local burglaries. The subjects selling the guns were not the owners.

Newport Police Officers learned the subjects were meeting a potential buyer of the weapons in the 600 Block of SW 9th Street, at about 4:30 p.m. Police Officers coordinated with Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office Deputies to conduct a high-risk traffic stop of the subjects when they arrived to make the sale. As the subjects arrived at the location in their vehicle, they were apprehended without incident, and taken into custody.

A subsequent search of the vehicle and subjects turned up multiple rifles, a handgun, methamphetamine, and drug use paraphernalia. Arrested at the scene were Robert Lee Bauman, age 30 of Newport, and Anthony Francisco Garcia, age 29 of Newport. Both Bauman and Garcia were transported to the Lincoln County Jail.

Bauman was charged with six counts of Felon in Possession of Firearms; and Unlawful Possession of Methamphetamine. He had three outstanding arrest warrants. Garcia was charged with six counts of Felon in Possession of Firearms; Unlawful Possession of Methamphetamine; Supplying Contraband to a Correctional Facility; and Parole Violation. Bauman’s bail was set at $280,000; Garcia’s bail was set at $150,000.