LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – A 25-year-old Nebraskan with a long
criminal record is going to federal prison for almost 22 years.
The Lincoln Journal Star reports that Carlos Ponce on
Thursday was given 262 months for possessing methamphetamine with
intent to distribute it. Lincoln police say Ponce had about an
ounce of meth near one of his feet when he was arrested in July
2010.
Ponce has a criminal history that dates back to when Ponce was
barely a teenager, making him a career criminal under federal
sentencing guidelines.
Ponce asked for some leniency on Thursday, calling himself young
enough to be rehabilitated.
But U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf disagreed, saying
“the trajectory that we see here is one that suggests that the
public needs to be protected from him.”