mason city man sentenced for being felon with firearms
Contact: Peter Deegan
A man who had been convicted of negligent homicide and who then possessed over eight guns was sentenced on February 8, 2011, to five years’ federal probation.
Joshua Penney, age 29, from Mason City, Iowa, received the sentence after a September 17, 2010, guilty plea to one charge of being a felon in possession of firearms.
Penney was convicted of felony Negligent Homicide on April 15, 2005, by the Department of the Army, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, while he was in the military. He was driving drunk when his car crashed, killing a passenger, and he received a Bad Conduct discharge because of the conviction. He had several alcohol-related offenses following his discharge, and, on November 12, 2009, in Mason City, he possessed more than eight firearms.
Penney was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade. Penney was sentenced to five years’ probation, and a $100 special assessment was imposed. As part of his probation, he was ordered to get a mental health evaluation and treatment to address issues stemming from his combat service in the military.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Bob Teig as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a cooperative local, state, and federal program aimed at the enhanced prosecution of gun crimes. The case was investigated by the Mason City Police Department and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is CR 10-3027.
