Mount Pleasant inmate faces charges in Iowa City burglary investigation

IOWA CITY - A Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility inmate faces charges related to an Iowa City burglary investigation.

According to Iowa City police criminal complaints, on March 6, 2016, police served a search warrant at the home of 32-year-old Brent M. Lothridge, formerly of Iowa City. While there, police learned that Lothridge rented a storage unit. Lothridge's girlfriend helped rent the unit and gave police written permission to search it.

Police said when they opened the storage unit, they found multiple stolen items, including a digital camera and two firearms. Police said the camera matched the description of one stolen from a parking garage on Foster Road in February 2016. Additional property taken from burglaries on Foster Road were also found in the storage unit.

The girlfriend told police that she witnessed Lothridge - a felon - with one of the guns several times and said he had previously threatened her with it. She also reported helping Lothridge rent the storage unit at his request and had never returned to it, but knew Lothridge was still using it.

Lothridge now faces two counts of third-degree burglary, two counts of possession of a firearm by a felon, one count of third-degree theft and one count of fourth-degree theft. He was previously in custody in the Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility for a third-degree burglary conviction out of Johnson County. His tentative release date on that conviction is Jan. 30, 2023.

If convicted of his new charges, Lothridge would face up to 23 years in prison.

l Comments: (319) 398-8238; lee.hermiston@thegazette.com