Man sentenced for BB gun attacks on California Planned Parenthood clinic

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man who waged a year-long series of BB gun attacks on a Southern California Planned Parenthood clinic was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in federal prison.

Richard Royden Chamberlin, 53, was sentenced Monday in Los Angeles federal court, the U.S. attorney’s office said in a statement.

At least 11 attacks targeted a Planned Parenthood facility in Pasadena between June 2020 and May 2021. No one was hurt but a person waiting outside for a patient was nearly struck, staff was terrified and the building was damaged, prosecutors said.

Pasadena police stopped Chamberlin after a May 7, 2021, attack and found he had eight BB guns and a backpack containing a loaded .22-caliber pistol.

The U.S. attorney’s office said that Chamberlin, who was convicted in Arizona in 2012 of felony attempted transportation of a narcotic for sale, subsequently tried to sell or transfer ownership of other firearms. A search of his home found thousands of rounds of ammunition, gun powder, a dozen BB guns, and other weapons-related items.

Chamberlin pleaded guilty in December 2022 to one count of violating the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.