Man Who Tossed Gun and Drugs While Fleeing From Police to Serve Time in Federal Prison

A man who possessed a firearm as a felon was sentenced yesterday to 78 months in federal prison.

Gabriel DeTrace Taylor, age 30, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received the prison term after a November 10, 2022, guilty plea to one count of possessing a firearm as a felon.  Taylor had previously been convicted of Robbery in the First Degree.

Evidence at the sentencing hearing showed that Taylor fled from police and threw a loaded firearm from the window of the vehicle, as well as a backpack with cocaine and marijuana.  Evidence also showed that on a prior occasion in March 2021, Taylor had done the same thing, fleeing from police and throwing a firearm from the vehicle.

Taylor was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams.  Taylor was sentenced to 78 months’ imprisonment.  He must also serve a 3-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.

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

The case was prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Nicole L. Nagin, and it was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Cedar Rapids Police Department.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).  PSN is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.  PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.  The case file number is 22-CR-62.

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