Kevin Combs (Photo: Laurel County Correctional Center)
FRANKFORT, KY (September 10, 2021) – A Lost Creek, Kentucky man, Kevin Combs, 32, pleaded guilty on Thursday, before U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove, to cultivating more than 50 marijuana plants and brandishing a firearm in relation to a drug trafficking crime.
According to Combs’ guilty plea agreement, on July 16, 2020, Kentucky State Police law enforcement responded to an investigation regarding suspected marijuana plants. At the location, Combs confronted one of the officers with a stainless-steel, loaded revolver pistol. When the officer told Combs to lower his pistol, he refused, ran away, and hid the pistol. The pistol was subsequently recovered as evidence. Combs further admitted to cultivating over 50 marijuana plants on the property that was part of the investigation.
Combs has several prior state felony convictions, including:
- Fleeing and evading law enforcement
- Escape
- Trafficking in a controlled substance first degree
- Trafficking in a controlled substance second degree
Combs was indicted in October 2020.
Carlton S. Shier, IV, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Shawn Morrow, Special Agent in Charge, ATF, Louisville Field Division; and Colonel Phillip Burnett, Commissioner, Kentucky State Police, announced the guilty plea.
The investigation was conducted by ATF and Kentucky State Police. The United States was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Roger West.
Combs is scheduled to be sentenced on January 1, 2022. He faces a maximum of 20 years on the marijuana charge and not less than seven years on the firearm charge, which must run consecutively to other sentences. However, any sentence will be imposed by the Court, after its consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal sentencing statutes.
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