(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – Two men from Pottawattamie County were sentenced Wednesday in Council Bluffs U-S District Court. According to U-S Attorney Richard D. Westphal, 42-year-old  Alan Scott Lawton,  of Council Bluffs, was sentenced to 66 months (5.5-years) in prison, following his plea of guilty to being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm. After he is released from prison, Lawton will serve three years of supervised release. On June 8, 2022, a law enforcement observed Lawton putting items in a storage unit. Lawton fled in his Jeep and drove through a security fence, then took off on foot. After a short chase, he was apprehended. Along Lawton’s flight path, law enforcement located a loaded pistol that had been reported stolen.

And, 35-year-old Cornelius Lavaughn David, of Council Bluffs, was sentenced to 30 months (2.5-years) in prison, following his plea of guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. After he is released from prison, David will serve three years of supervised release. In January 2022, David possessed and sold a firearm that was reported stolen. Prior to possessing the firearm, David was convicted of a felony which prohibited him from possessing firearms.

The Council Bluffs Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case against each man as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. In May 2021, the Department of Justice launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.