A former baggage handler who stole six guns and ammunition from checked luggage at Portland International Airport was sentenced Monday to six months in federal prison.

After removing the guns, Deshawn Antonio Kelly then switched airline tags on the luggage he opened, sending them to different destinations. Two ended up out of the country, arriving in London and Mexico City, which delayed the owners’ reporting of the gun thefts.

One of the victims was an out-of-state police officer; another was a gun dealer, according to police and prosecutors.

Five of the six guns were recovered. Kelly turned over one of the guns to a friend, a convicted felon and gang member, and it was never found, according to the government.

“My question is a simple one,’’ U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon asked Kelly. “Why’d you do it?’’

“I did it because I was in a tough spot,’’ Kelly responded. “We had the lights off every month. We had no vehicle. We were facing eviction.”

Kelly, 27, acknowledged that he stole the guns from five people who checked their bags at the Portland airport last August and September.

Bags containing firearms had red tags fastened to them at the airport for special handling. Kelly was responsible for transferring the red-tagged luggage from the oversized baggage conveyor belt to that passenger’s plane and he knew what a red tag meant, according to court records.

He removed the bags and took them to a remote area outside the view of surveillance cameras. He would take the guns, as well as magazines, ammunition and other accessories, then switch the baggage tag with a tag from another checked bag from the same airline but a different flight and place the bags back onto conveyor belts.

When the owners of the bags reached their destinations, they reported their bags missing.

A number of times, Kelly swapped the bag’s tag with a tag from another airline, complicating the search for the missing luggage, according to prosecutors.

“This is how guns get on the street,’’ Assistant U.S. Attorney Hannah Horsley said. “This is how guns get diverted from lawful owners and end up in the hands of felons.’’

The prosecutor sought a sentence of a year and nine months, saying Kelly took advantage of the trust that passengers place in their airline to have bags transported without tampering.

Kelly’s defense lawyer, Michelle Sweet, argued for time served, with home detention and GPS monitoring. Kelly, upon arrest, helped police recover five of the six stolen firearms, she noted. The gun stolen from the police officer was among those recovered, the prosecutor said.

Sweet called the crime “aberrant behavior’’ for her client. He intended to sell the guns for money but was arrested before he did, she said.

Kelly said he wasn’t in the “right mindset’’ when he stole the guns.

“I do recognize the things I have done are serious, and I do apologize for everything that I’ve done,’’ he told the judge. “I wasn’t thinking clearly.’’

Horsley said the eight days in custody that Kelly has served wouldn’t be a sufficient punishment. She urged the judge to consider what type of message eight days behind bars would send to other baggage handlers at airports.

The judge agreed but found the nearly two-year sentence recommended by the government excessive.

“This was a big mistake. I hope you learn from this,'' Simon told Kelly.

Kelly worked for Portland Business Providers, earning about $14 an hour, according to his lawyer.

Following reports of stolen guns from airport baggage, a Portland police detective placed replica guns in bags twice -- on Sept. 11 and six days later -- as bait to determine who was swiping them and narrowed it to Kelly, according to a probable cause affidavit initially filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court.

The second time, Kelly was seen taking a bait bag and a passenger’s bag with a gun and later putting them back.

Investigators searched Kelly’s home and found five of the six guns reported missing, and Kelly admitted taking them, the affidavit said.

He was fired the day of his Sept. 25 arrest, after having worked at the airport for seven months.

Kelly must surrender to prison on Sept. 30.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian

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