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Donald Fredrick Dawson, 34, a resident of Highway 38, was arrested Tuesday and booked into the Washington Parish Jail on charges of possession of a stolen firearm, being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, failure to appear in court and a traffic violation, according to Chief Deputy Mike Haley of the Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Haley said that the arrest occurred at the intersection of Highway 438 and Silas Johnson Road. During the encounter with Dawson, narcotics detectives discovered the handgun which had been reported stolen in Washington Parish, Haley said. He noted that detectives also discovered Dawson had a warrant for failure to appear in court for possession of heroin.

Haley said that Dawson had previously been on parole for a manslaughter conviction and has been in the Washington Parish Jail several times since 2006 on various charges, including a 2011 arrest for murder that resulted in the manslaughter conviction. Other offenses during the years include domestic violence, aggravated assault, battery, violation of a protective order, telephone harassment and failure to appear in court, Haley said.

“I’m grateful to our alert narcotics detectives who were able to take an illegal handgun out of our community,” Washington Parish Sheriff Randy Seal said. “When officers make a traffic stop, they never know who or what they might encounter. Even the simplest traffic violation sometimes produces someone who has an outstanding warrant for a violent offense. I salute our officers who work daily to help make Washington Parish a safe place in which to live.”