An Air Force Academy football player accused of cocaine use has pleaded guilty, according to the school.
Cadet Kyler Ehm was charged with four counts of cocaine use, a charge his lawyers denied in a preliminary hearing last fall. A Kansas native, Ehm played in 10 games as a defensive lineman for the Falcons, recording a single tackle.
This week he was sentenced to a forfeiture in pay of $700 a month for four months and two months of confinement. Additionally, he will have a federal drug conviction on his record, according to a Thursday press release from the academy. He faced a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Ehm was the third Falcons football player to face cocaine charges after a 2019 investigation. He was charged after other cadets accused the defensive lineman of using cocaine and at least one witness got a reduced sentence on their own drug charges.
The government’s star witness is former Falcons fullback Cole Fagan, who in September pleaded guilty to cocaine use and got a 15-day sentence at a court-martial where he faced a maximum prison term of five years.
Civilian defense attorney Ernesto Gapasin last fall argued that Ehm was a victim of testimony offered by witnesses desperate to give prosecutors damning information on others in exchange for plea deals.
“You wouldn’t find a single witness out there who would say Kyler Ehm is anything but a good-natured young man,” Gapasin said.
The argument didn’t sway authorities, who determined there was ample evidence for Ehm to head to trial this week.
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