Kearney man sentenced to five years for having stolen gun

KEARNEY, Neb. -- A 36-year-old Kearney man has been sentenced to five years in prison for possessing stolen firearms.

The Acting U.S. Attorney announced that 36-year-old Joshua Thomas Alan Casiano, of Kearney, was sentenced on Monday to five years in prison for possession of stolen firearms.

He was also sentenced to a three-year term of supervised release to be served after he completes his prison sentence. There is no parole in the federal system. Casiano pleaded guilty to the offense on Mar. 21, 2023.

Police discovered that a residence in Phelps County, Nebraska was burglarized on April 13, 2021. Fourteen firearms were stolen from the home during the burglary.

Following this event, a witness came forward and told police that Casiano said he wanted to acquire firearms by committing a burglary.

Casiano learned that the residence in Phelps County contained several firearms. Casiano left the night of the burglary and then returned later with what the witness estimated to be around a dozen firearms.

Most of those firearms were later sold to two other persons. Once police learned of the sale, they obtained a search warrant to search the home of the buyers.

Most of the stolen firearms were recovered during that search with the remainder recovered several days later.

To date, all the stolen firearms were recovered by law enforcement.