Department of Justice
For Immediate Release
Omaha Man Sentenced for Methamphetamine and Gun Charges
Acting United States Attorney Steven Russell announced that Jason L. Bates, 51, of Omaha, Nebraska, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Brian C. Buescher to 84 months’ imprisonment for Possession with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine and 37 months for Unlawful User of a Controlled Substance in Possession of a Firearm. These sentences are to be served concurrently. There is no parole in the federal system. Upon his release, Bates will serve a 5-year term of supervised release.
On April 6, 2020, Bates was contacted by deputies of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office in connection with an ongoing investigation. The sheriff deputies located a Smith & Wesson Body Guard .38 caliber revolver in a backpack on the rear floor board behind the passenger seat. At the time of his possession of the Smith & Wesson revolver on April 6, 2020, Bates was an unlawful user of a controlled substance, specifically, methamphetamine. For the Smith & Wesson to have been found in Nebraska on April 6, 2020, it would have had to been transported in interstate commerce.
On July 18, 2020, officers with the Omaha Police Department located Bates at the Hawthorne Suites in Omaha in room 333. There was an active arrest warrant for Bates. Officers located Bates in his rented room and arrested him on his warrant. In the room, officers located suspected methamphetamine, clear plastic baggies, and two scales. Bates admitted to being a methamphetamine user. Bates also admitted to selling methamphetamine to his friends. The suspected methamphetamine was submitted to the Nebraska Public Service Laboratory and found to be 5.92 grams of methamphetamine (actual).
This case was investigated by the Omaha Police Department, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. This case was part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing Department of Justice
together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally based strategies to reduce violent crime.