Firearm Felon Lucas Ahrendt Gets 2.5 Years for Gun Crime

A Sioux Falls man has been sentenced to federal prison for receiving a firearm while under indictment.

Lucas Ewald Ahrendt, 32, of Sioux Falls, was sentenced to two years and three months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Karen E. Schreier on April 16, 2024, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Ahrendt was convicted of Illegal Receipt of a Firearm by a Person Under Indictment. He was also ordered to pay $100 as a statutorily required special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.

The case began on December 26, 2022, when a passerby reported Ahrendt waving a handgun around in the front passenger seat of a truck in the West 57th area of Sioux Falls. Law enforcement located a Glock handgun, loaded with a full magazine and a bullet in the chamber, as well as marijuana and fentanyl in the vehicle.

Ahrendt was prohibited from possessing firearms because he was under indictment for a felony, Possession of a Controlled Substance in Moody County, South Dakota, when he received the firearm. This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Sioux Falls Police Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Ebert prosecuted the case as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program aimed at reducing violent crime and gun violence in communities. Ahrendt was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service to continue serving his sentence.