A phony traffic stop led to a federal prison sentence Tuesday for a Le Mars man. 

A federal judge sentenced 46-year-old John Beardshear to 30 months in prison. Beardshear pled guilty to being both a felon and a domestic abuser who had a loaded firearm and ammunition.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, Beardshear’s car and home were searched after Sioux City Police stopped him. That search happened after a couple traveling south of Le Mars called the Plymouth County Sheriff’s office to report they’d been stopped by an unshaven, un-uniformed man with a blue light on his car.