Garden City man sentenced to federal prison

WICHITA, KAN. (AP) – A Garden City man with a state prison record was sentenced Tuesday to 87 months in federal prison for carrying a gun, U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said.

Darnell Wilks, 49, Garden City, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

A Garden City police officer arrested Wilks in March 2017. The officer saw Wilks walking down the middle of west Kansas Ave. and stopped to talk to him. Seeing the officer, Wilks ran away. During the chase, Wilks threw down a .45 caliber handgun. He was prohibited from possessing a firearm because he was convicted in 2014 in Finney County District Court on a charge of making a criminal threat.

The case was prosecuted under the Justice Department’s Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative. McAllister commended the Garden City Police Department and Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Treaster for their work on the case.