Cody Ahonen, 29, of Mt. Holly was sentenced Feb. 14 in United States District Court in Burlington to 48 months of imprisonment following his guilty plea to possessing cocaine and cocaine base with intent to distribute and possessing firearms as a prohibited person, federal authorities say.

The charges stem from an incident on Rt. 4 in Killington on September 15, 2021. That day, Ahonen’s girlfriend, Brittany Bouthiette, died of a gunshot wound sustained in a parked vehicle. Ahonen informed law enforcement the wound was self-inflicted by Bouthiette. The gun used in that incident belonged to Ahonen and Ahonen possessed the gun before Bouthiette’s death.

After Bouthiette was shot, Ahonen attempted to throw the gun into the woods. Vermont State Police responded to the scene of the shooting. In a roadside ditch, troopers located a Glock pistol. Beneath the vehicle, troopers located a quantity of suspected cocaine base. Inside the vehicle, troopers located an additional pistol, a rifle, a quantity of powder cocaine, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, a digital scale with white residue, and approximately $10,000 in U.S. currency.

During investigation at the scene and after executing search warrants for Ahonen’s car and hotel room, law enforcement seized two handguns, a rifle, ammunition and about 175 grams of cocaine and cocaine base.

Judge Christina Reiss ordered that Ahonen serve three years of supervised release following completion of his prison term and forfeit firearms that were seized during this investigation. Ahonen has been incarcerated since his arrest in September 2021.

Ahonen is prohibited from possessing any firearms because he was previously convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence. In his guilty plea last summer, Ahonen admitted that he intended to distribute the seized drugs.