Cedar Rapids Man Receives Statutory Maximum Decade in Prison for Possessing Ammunition While a Drug User

A Cedar Rapids man who possessed ammunition and firearms while being a drug user was sentenced today to ten years in federal prison.

Booker Deon McKinney, age 24, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received the prison term after a June 7, 2023 guilty plea to possession of ammunition by a drug user.

Evidence at sentencing showed that on April 17, 2021, McKinney was in a vehicle with a juvenile male.  Police officers searched the vehicle and located a privately made firearm, also known as a ghost gun, with an extended magazine loaded with 30 rounds of ammunition.  McKinney’s DNA was located on the firearm, and he later admitted handling the weapon.  During 2020 and 2021, McKinney used another individual to purchase firearms for him.  McKinney later assaulted that same person and was convicted of Assault Causing Bodily Injury, Domestic Abuse, Strangulation.  McKinney also admitted to handling a firearm in 2022 that was used in an incident where shots were fired in the area around his parents’ residence.

McKinney was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams.  McKinney was sentenced to 120 months’ imprisonment. He must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

McKinney is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.  His sentence was ordered to run consecutive to his state conviction in the strangulation case.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Emily K. Nydle and investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, Cedar Rapids Police Department, and the Marion Police Department. 

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. 

The case file number is 23-cr-2.

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