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A 32-year-old man is accused of using Facebook to solicit buyers for stolen firearms, according to federal authorities. On Thursday, April 28, 2016, John Jeffrey Sheldon, 32, made his first appearance on a weapons charge in U.S. District Court in Portland.

(The Oregonian/file)

Federal agents have arrested a convicted felon suspected of listing stolen guns for sale on social media through Facebook's Messenger app.

John Jeffrey Shelton, 32, is also considered a suspect in a Gresham residential burglary, where about 30 firearms were stolen, according to a federal complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Portland.

Shelton was arrested Wednesday night in Portland after a chase. He faces one count of felon in possession of a firearm. He may face additional charges, authorities said.

John Jeffrey Sheldon, 32

A special agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives learned last week of the firearms theft in Gresham.

During the course of the investigation, Gresham police got tips from a former acquaintance of Shelton's that Shelton had offered him weapons for sale. Investigators learned Shelton solicited buyers via Facebook Messenger, Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Kerin said.

Police got a warrant to search the cellphone of the acquaintance, who was facing unrelated criminal charges, and discovered photos of the guns Shelton allegedly offered to sell him, according to the complaint.

The Gresham burglary victim identified the photos as similar to the stolen guns, special agent Ryan Hultgren wrote in a federal affidavit.

Wearing a body wire, the cooperating witness met Wednesday with Shelton to arrange to buy guns, Hultgren wrote. The agent listened to the conversation as it went down and could hear a "slide being racked,'' he testified in court.

Wednesday night, a team of officers tracked Shelton driving a silver Ford Explorer west on Southeast Division Street in Portland. Federal agents pulled up behind his sports utility vehicle and attempted to stop him, and he drove off, Hultgren said.

He was later spotted at Southeast 44th Avenue and Sherman Street and taken into custody, Hultgren testified. About 10 minutes later, authorities found the Ford Explorer that Shelton had ditched, in the area of Southeast 48th Avenue and Woodward Street, Hultgren said.

Inside the Ford Explorer, investigators found a Sig Sauer P250 .45-caliber pistol in plain view on the driver's side floorboard and three other guns inside the SUV, Hultgren wrote in the affidavit.

Officers were cautious about approaching Shelton during his arrest because he was known to carry a firearm and sometimes wear body armor, Kerin said in court.

Shelton's acquaintance also had alerted police that Shelton made remarks that if police ever confronted him again, "he'd be holding court in the street'' -- lingo for either running to escape arrest or initiating a confrontation to avoid returning to prison, Kerin said.

Shelton was convicted in Multnomah County in July 2015 for being a felon in possession of a firearm and unlawful use of a firearm, and in Clackamas County in August 2008 for unlawful use of a weapon, second-degree kidnapping and unlawful use of a motor vehicle.

He was ordered to remain in custody, pending an arraignment next month. The investigation into the stolen firearms is continuing, Kerin said.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian