BEATRICE – A man serving a state prison term for robbery was sentenced to a concurrent two-year prison term Wednesday, on a Gage County criminal conviction.


33-year-old Kenneth Miles is serving a 10-to-15-year prison term for a Lancaster County robbery conviction. He appeared by video during a Gage County District Court sentencing hearing for felony theft by receiving stolen property. Gage County Public Defender Lee Timan said the local case against MIles was filed after he had been sentenced to prison.


"Mr. Miles, while he's been in prison, your honor, had done a lot of things to improve himself. I know that he is working on his college degree. He is in a Rise program, taking business classes so that he has a plan for when he gets out. I believe that is referenced in the PSI that he has done a lot of things positive in the prison system. He is taking advantage of that opportunity to better himself."


Gage County District Judge Rick Schreiner said Miles had criminal actions dating back to 2008 in both Nebraska and California.


"At the age of 33 you still have a lot of life in front of you. You can chart a course that sees you doing most of that in in prison, or you can work towards remaining a free man. And, I hope that you choose to work toward remaining a free man."


The Gage County case stemmed from a July 2023 burglary of a vacant building in Wymore, where several items had been stolen…including an electric piano, two guitars, a clarinet, an accordion, two pair of binoculars, jewelry and other items.


Lancaster County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested Miles in 2022, who along with another man arrested were suspected of robbing a Beatrice woman of $10,000 while she was on her way to Lincoln to purchase a vehicle. Miles was arrested by a fugitive task force, in Omaha.


Miles’ tentative release date from state prison is 2030.