May 8, 2014

Cedar Rapids Man Sentenced to More Than Eight Years for Being a Felon in Possession of a Stolen Firearm

A felon who was apprehended after crashing a stolen vehicle while fleeing from police was sentenced today to more than eight years in federal prison after officers found a loaded stolen handgun in the vehicle.

Jacob Voshell, age 46, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received the prison term after a January 22, 2014 guilty plea to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

In a plea agreement, Voshell admitted that, in the early morning hours of August 7, 2013, he fled from police in a stolen vehicle when officers tried to stop him for driving the wrong way on a one-way street. Voshell eventually crashed the vehicle and attempted to flee on foot when he was arrested. A search of the stolen vehicle revealed a police scanner, burglary tools, stolen license plates, personal use amounts of controlled substances, drug use paraphernalia, and a loaded, stolen .380 caliber handgun. Voshell was prohibited from possessing firearms because he was a felon, having been convicted in 1987 of robbery in the first degree and sexual abuse in the second degree.

Voshell was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade. Voshell was sentenced to 105 months’ imprisonment. The sentence was based, in part, on the fact Voshell recklessly endangered the lives of others while fleeing from the police. The court held that the sentence was to run consecutively to an undischarged sentence of seven years Voshell is serving for three other convictions imposed by the Iowa District Court for Linn County: 1) theft, second degree; 2) theft, second degree and possession of burglary tools; and 3) burglary, third degree. A special assessment of $100 was imposed. He must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.

Voshell is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.

The case was being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney C.J. Williams and was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; and the Cedar Rapids Police Department. This case was a result of the Cedar Rapids Safe Streets Task Force and was in furtherance of the Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative.