A federal judge Monday gave Christopher R. Ponte a split sentence of six months in prison and six months of home detention for target shooting with co-workers in a national forest while he was barred from handling guns as a felon.

Ponte, who started a police watchdog group called Oregon Cop Block and has drawn the ire of local officials for filming them at their homes, came under investigation by a Portland police detective in July.

The investigation began around the same time that Portland police Capt. Mark Kruger got a stalking order against Ponte after Ponte showed up July 10 at Kruger's house. The investigation included the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Portland Detective Jeff Myers found Ponte pictured on his Facebook page firing a shotgun, according to a federal complaint.

Ponte, 36, admitted he joined co-workers Jan. 28 at a U.S. Forest Service campsite off Oregon 224 in Estacada and held and fired three guns that belonged to others -- an Uzi Pro pistol, a shotgun and an AK-47-type assault rifle.

A year earlier, Ponte had been convicted of possessing a stolen car in Clackamas County and was barred from having or handling guns.

"He was target shooting with lawful gun owners,'' his defense lawyer Susan Wilk told the judge. "He's paying dearly for this lapse in judgment.''

Ponte lost a job he loved at Bob's Red Mill and couldn't afford his apartment as a result of the prosecution for his "transitory'' possession or control of a gun, Wilk said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Ratcliffe urged a sentence of one year and a day.

"The defendant's conduct does not amount to the crime of the century, the decade, or even the year,'' Ratcliffe wrote in a sentencing memo. "However, his use of three different firearms while shooting with colleagues on U.S. Forest Service land after sustaining a felony conviction merits punishment.''

Ratcliffe said Ponte also wasn't forthright with officers after his arrest.

U.S. District Judge Marco A. Hernandez sentenced Ponte after U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown earlier this month recused herself from the case, saying she had officiated at Kruger's wedding and signed his marriage certificate.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian