Denver man sentenced for transporting drugs in Kansas City

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – A Denver, Colorado, man was sentenced Thursday in federal court for transporting thousands of pills through Kansas City, Missouri.

Ahmad Rashad Rhodes, 45, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison without parole. Court documents indicate Rhodes was sentenced as a habitual offender due to prior felony convictions.

Rhodes was found guilty during a trial in December 2023 of one count of possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute, one count of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

READ MORE: Three Mexicans charged with methamphetamine trafficking in Kansas City

Officers with the Western Missouri Narcotics and Interdiction Task Force were conducting interdiction activities at a bus station in Kansas City on March 20, 2023, when Rhodes arrived on a bus from Los Angeles.

As passengers exited the bus, a drug-sniffing dog alerted officers to the presence of illegal drugs in a suitcase on the underside of the bus. Officers determined the suitcase belonged to Rhodes and contacted him.

Court documents indicate Rhodes told officers he was headed to Louisville, Kentucky, and was fleeing Colorado because of a pending drug trafficking case for which he had not yet been sentenced. Those documents also stated that Rhodes had spent most of his adult life under some level of criminal justice sentencing or supervision.

Copyright 2024 KCTV. All rights reserved.