January 5, 2015

Cedar Rapids Man Sentenced to Five Years for Being a Felon in Possession of a Handgun Stolen During Burglary

A man who stole a firearm during the burglary was sentenced today to five years in federal prison. Tanner Williams, age 25, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received the prison term after a guilty plea to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

In a plea agreement, Williams admitted he is a felon, having been convicted on April 7, 2014, of Theft 2nd Degree. On May 18, 2014, a Cedar Rapids home was burglarized. Among the property stolen during the burglary was a .22 caliber handgun. Williams pawned the firearm at a Cedar Rapids pawn shop two days after the burglary. Williams later admitted lying to police when he falsely denied committing the burglary and claimed that another person had asked him to pawn the handgun. At the sentencing hearing, the court refused to reduce the sentence for acceptance of responsibility, and further increased the sentence beyond the advisory guidelines range, because of his conduct while on release pending trial. The court had released Williams after his arrest subject to certain conditions. The court found Williams violated those conditions by repeatedly using marijuana and heroin, possessing ammunition as a felon, lying to the probation officers and police, and by possessing a stolen purse.

Williams was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade. Williams was sentenced to 60 months’ imprisonment. 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. Williams is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney C.J. Williams and investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Safe Streets Task Force and the Cedar Rapids Police Department.

Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is 14-cr-71.