COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA – A Nebraska man was sentenced Thursday, July 6, 2023, to 180 months (15-years) in federal prison for charges of possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, carrying a firearm during and relation to a drug trafficking crime, prohibited person in possession of a firearm, and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, on August 6, 2021, a Council Bluffs Police officer found 37-year-old Kyle G. Ashmore in a car in a motel parking lot, at around 3:30-am. The officer saw a baggie of marijuana in plain view. During the search of the vehicle, the officer found a loaded .40 caliber Smith and Wesson handgun, a box of ammunition, LSD, fentanyl, cocaine, buprenorphine, psilocyn, and drug paraphernalia.

Following a two-day trial in November 2022, a jury found Ashmore guilty of the drug charges. Following a two-day trial in February 2023, a jury found Ashmore guilty of the gun charges. Ashmore must serve a five-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The Council Bluffs Police Department, the Southwest Iowa Narcotics Enforcement Task Force, and the Department of Narcotics Enforcement investigated the case.