A Leavenworth man caught with crack cocaine on the Kansas University campus has been sentenced to life in prison – a mandatory penalty under federal law because prosecutors charged it as a “three strikes and you’re out” case, based on his two prior drug felonies.

Theogen E. Garner, 42, was sentenced in late June in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan. But he already has begun an appeal.

KU police stopped Garner’s pickup truck about 1:12 a.m. July 21, 2005, near 15th and Iowa Streets after seeing it weaving within its lane and driving at nearly half the speed limit. Eventually, police found 82 grams of crack cocaine in his truck and 13 grams in his pocket.