Felon Roberts gets 9 more years

Still faces charges on alleged offenses committed in Greene County
 
An Ash Grove man was sentenced to nine years in federal prison after pleading guilty to illegally possession firearms. Jason Brent Roberts, 44, was sentenced on Wednesday, Dec. 1. He pleaded guilty to the charge on June 17.

Facts in the case:

In the governments sentencing memorandum, the U.S. attorneys prosecuting the case cited a burglary which took place on April 4, 2020, for which Roberts was arrested a few days later. In that case, the victim, who owned the house which was broken into, told authorities at the time that three rifles, a Winchester Model 70 and two Mausers bolt actions, had been stolen, along with a Stihl Model MS180 chainsaw.
The victim also reported that on the morning of Saturday, April 4, Roberts, 43, and another person (not identified because they are not charged in this case) knocked on the victim’s door to ask if he’d seen Roberts’ black dog. The victim said he told Roberts and the other person “no,” and they left. The victim also said he thought this was odd as when the dog had gotten out in the past, they simply called it and had never contacted him about it before. The victim left his home and returned later that day to find the door forced in and the reported items missing.
According to the sentencing memorandum, Roberts was stopped two days later for driving without a valid license, during which time the officer reported smelling marijuana in the vehicle. Roberts was arrested, and a black jewelry box, one of the items reported as having been stolen from the victim’s home, was found in the car. Later, Roberts agreed to speak with investigators and told them where to find the stolen firearms.
During the search, seven other firearms and 12 grams of methamphetamine were also found. According to the search, it was illegal for Roberts to possess a firearm because he had been convicted of a crime “punishable by a term of imprisonment for a term exceeding one year” (according to the sentencing memorandum, Roberts’s criminal record includes two convictions of being a felon in possession of firearms, for which he was sentenced to a combined total of 73-months imprisonment).

Roberts’s attorney, United States attorneys argued for different sentences:

Roberts’s attorney asked that he receive a sentence of seven years, citing “verbal, mental and emotional abuse” he’d suffered in childhood, as well as addictions he’d developed in his teens while on prescription pain medications and diagnoses of Mood Disorder, ADHD, neuropathy and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Attorneys for the United States had requested Roberts be sentenced to 10 years in prison, to be followed with three years of supervised release.

Roberts still faces charges in Greene County:

Roberts legal woes are far from over. In Greene County, he still faces one charge of possession of a controlled substance, stemming from his detainment in April of 2020. He also faces a number of charges stemming from events which took place in 2015, including two counts of forgery, one count of fraudulent use of a credit device, one count unlawful possession of a firearm, one count of DWI-Drug Intoxication, one count of possession of a controlled substance and one count of delivery or possession of a controlled substance at a private or county jail. As of presstime, Roberts remained in the custody of the Greene County Jail.