A Denver, Colorado, man has been convicted for transporting fentanyl and methamphetamine through Kansas City, Missouri, aboard a bus and for illegally possessing a firearm.
Ahmad Rashad Rhodes, 44, was found guilty of one count of possessing fentanyl with the intent to distribute, one count of possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute, one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Officers with the Missouri Western Interdiction and Narcotics Task Force (MoWIN) conducted interdiction activities at a Kansas City, Missouri, bus station on March 20, 2023. Rhodes arrived on a bus originating from Los Angeles, California. As passengers disembarked, a police drug-sniffing dog alerted to the scent of illegal drugs in a suitcase in the undercarriage and a backpack in the passenger compartment of the bus. Both items belonged to Rhodes.
Rhodes was taken into custody after a brief struggle and admitted to having a gun in the crossbody bag he was wearing. Officers found a key chain in his coat with two metal pill holders; one contained 61 blue counterfeit oxycodone hydrochloride pills with fentanyl, and the other had 33 similar pills.
In Rhodes’s crossbody bag, officers discovered 3,200 blue counterfeit oxycodone hydrochloride pills with fentanyl, a clear plastic baggie with 60 grams of methamphetamine, and a loaded Smith & Wesson .38-caliber pistol. They also found a digital scale, over 100 unused small plastic baggies, and marijuana in Rhodes’s luggage.
Rhodes informed officers he was en route to Louisville, Kentucky, fleeing from Colorado due to a pending drug-trafficking case.
Under federal law, anyone convicted of a felony is prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition. Rhodes has eight prior felony convictions related to illegal drug use or trafficking, including two in Colorado and a previous conviction for illegal firearm possession.
The jury in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Missouri, deliberated for less than an hour before returning guilty verdicts to U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough, concluding a trial that began on Dec. 6.
Rhodes faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison without parole, up to life imprisonment. The maximum statutory sentence is determined by Congress. The sentencing, based on advisory guidelines and statutory factors, is scheduled for April 11, 2024.
The case is prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Megan A. Baker and Gregg R. Coonrod, with investigations by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department.
