Forest City man sentenced to prison on federal firearms charges

SIOUX CITY — A Forest City man has been sentenced to 45 months in prison after being accused of possessing a firearm as a drug user and making false statements to purchase firearms.

The US Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa’s office says 39-year-old Brian Byers pleaded guilty back in June to four counts of possession of a firearm by an unlawful drug user and four counts of making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm.

They say evidence showed Byers admitted that between July 2019 and February 2020 that he possessed multiple firearms while using marijuana and methamphetamine while in Cerro Gordo, Winnebago, Hancock, Black Hawk and Grundy counties.

Byers also admitted that on four different occasions between those dates that he stated on federal forms that he was not a drug user while he purchased multiple firearms.

Byers was sentenced by US District Court Judge Leonard Strand to 45 months in prison to be followed by a three-year term of supervised release. There’s no parole in the federal system.