The  Department of Justice announced on Monday that the convicted felon who was caught with a loaded firearm in his luggage at the Juneau International Airport in February 2018 has been sentenced in federal court to 21 months in federal prison.

Court documents revealed that on February 20th, 2018, as 41-year-old Ryan Matthew Neely, of Woodenville, Washington was attempting to clear airport security at Juneau International with his duffle bag, airport security screeners detected a firearm in his baggage. When confronted by law enforcement, Neely denied knowledge of the loaded weapon and told them, “that he grabbed the bag from someone else, not knowing there was a firearm inside,” according to court records.

Neely was taken into custody and transported to the Juneau Police Department where he was found to also be “in possession of $8,000, 1.75 grams of heroin, .45 grams of methamphetamine, and .19 grams of buprenorphine,” U.S. Attorney Bryan Schroder stated in the Monday release.

While at the station, Neely produced a stolen ID and initially purported to be that person. Further questioning would reveal his true identity and would also find that Neely was a felon convicted of theft, stolen mail possession, and identity theft and so, prohibited from possessing a firearm.

He was released from custody and when he learned of pending felon in possession charges absconded from the state.

In addition to the 21-month sentence, Justice Timothy Burgess sentenced Neely to three years of supervised release.

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