Waterloo Man Sentenced to 70 Months in Federal Prison for Being a Prohibited Person in Possession of a Firearm

A prohibited person who possessed a firearm was sentenced on January 24, 2024, to 70 months in federal prison.

Ezekiel Menteer, age 24, of Waterloo, received the sentence after an August 9, 2023, guilty plea to one count of being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm.  At the plea hearing, Menteer admitted that, in January 2022, he possessed a Kimber pistol after having been convicted of a felony and while being an unlawful drug user.  Evidence presented at the sentencing hearing showed that defendant used the pistol to fire eight shots outside a Waterloo bar.

Menteer was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams.  Menteer was sentenced to 70 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 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.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark Tremmel and was investigated by the Waterloo Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.  The case file number is CR 23-2009.

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