Three men face prison time on unrelated charges after being sentenced Thursday in United States District Court in Council Bluffs according to United States Attorney Nicholas A. Klinefeldt.

29-year-old Andrew James Ring of Council Bluffs was sentenced for being a felon in possession of a firearm.  Ring was sentenced to 12 months and 1 day in prison, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release. The Court also ordered Ring to pay a $100 special assessment for the Crime Victim Fund.

Ring was sentenced following his plea of guilty to the charge of felon in possession of a firearm. The charge arose out of an incident in which a motor vehicle operated by Ring struck a parked vehicle near a bar in Council Bluffs on December 5, 2011. Council Bluffs police officers responded and found a rifle and ammunition in Ring’s vehicle. Prior to possessing the rifle, Ring had been convicted of OWI 3rd in Pottawattamie County.

51-year-old Richard Pearson of Colorado Springs, Colorado, was sentenced for coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in unlawful sexual contact.  Pearson was sentenced to 120 months in prison, to be followed by 5 years of supervised release. The Court also ordered Pearson to pay a $100 special assessment for the Crime Victim Fund, to register with the Sex Offender Registry, and to forfeit certain items of personal property found in his possession on the date of his arrest in southwest Iowa.

The Indictment related to events involving texting between Pearson and a minor under 16 years of age which occurred between about mid-February of 2012, to about April 20, 2012, when the Pearson was in southwest Iowa on a trip from Colorado to engage in unlawful activities with the minor victim in Iowa. Pearson was an over-the-road trucker, who cultivated a relationship with the minor victim using cell phones provided to the minor by Pearson.

29-year-old Jeffrey Daniel Bozarth of Council Bluffs was sentenced for possession of child pornography.  Bozarth was sentenced to 48 months in prison, to be followed by 5 years of supervised release. The Court also ordered Bozarth to pay a $100 special assessment for the Crime Victim Fund, and also ordered Bozarth to forfeit all of his child pornography and equipment on which it was digitally stored

The charge arose out of a Nebraska State Patrol “P2P” investigation, which led to Bozarth’s address. On December 2, 2010, agents of the Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Omaha, Nebraska Office executed a federal search warrant at Bozarth’s residence in Council Bluffs and recovered various computer equipment and digital files stored therein. Forensic examination of the computer files seized in the search found a significant quantity of child pornography, including known child pornography from other states within the United States and some from other countries.