Cedar Rapids Man Who Robbed Victim at Gunpoint Sentenced to More than Eight Years in Prison

A man who committed a robbery and operated his car while intoxicated with a firearm in his possession was sentenced on November 29, 2021, to more than eight years in federal prison.

Rickey Bernard Wright, age 35, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received the prison term after a June 2, 2021 guilty plea to one count of possession of a firearm by a felon.

Information at sentencing showed that on November 17, 2019, Cedar Rapids police officers responded to a 911 call reporting that Wright had robbed a victim at gunpoint behind a liquor store in Cedar Rapids.  The victim described Wright’s car, his clothing, and the firearm Wright used.  The victim had to drive his car into the back of the liquor store to get away.  Approximately a half hour later, police officers responded to a second 911 call reporting a car doing donuts on the grounds of a registered historical site.  After arriving at the site, officers discovered that Wright had crashed his car through a fence.  Wright was intoxicated and could not walk straight.  Officers found the firearm that the victim of the robbery had described on the driver’s side floorboard in the car.      

Wright was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams.  Wright was sentenced to 104 months and 28 days’ imprisonment.  He was ordered to make $200 in restitution to the victim of the robbery.  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 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.

Wright 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 Kyndra Lundquist and Cedar Rapids Safe Streets Task Force.  The task force is composed of representatives from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Cedar Rapids Police Department.

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

The case file number is 20-CR-044.

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