A 29-year-old Lawrence man was sentenced to nearly four years in federal prison earlier this week by a federal judge after he pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm following an April arrest.

Judge Kathryn H. Vratil sentenced Michael James Edwards to 46 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release after an April traffic stop in Lawrence turned up several bags of marijuana, drug paraphernalia, a loaded gun and $1,500 in cash.

The gun, a loaded Ruger semi-automatic 9 millimeter, had been reported stolen, and Edwards had been convicted of aggravated battery in Douglas County in 2007.

Vratil recommended that Edwards be jailed in Greenville, Ill.