convicted murderer with gun pleads guilty
Contact: Peter Deegan
A man with a Chicago murder conviction who had a gun in his Cedar Rapids apartment in January pled guilty today in federal court in Cedar Rapids.
Ronnie Thomas, age 50, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
In a plea agreement, Thomas admitted that, on January 12, 2011, Cedar Rapids Police officers executed a search warrant at his residence. They found a semi-automatic 9 mm handgun with an obliterated serial number and a loaded high capacity magazine hidden in an inoperative television in Thomas’ apartment. The magazine was loaded with 18 rounds of ammunition. In May 1997, Thomas was convicted of Second Degree Murder in Cook County, Illinois.
Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Thomas remains in custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing. Thomas faces a possible maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, a $100 special assessment, and 3 years of supervised release following any imprisonment.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Patrick Reinert 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 Cedar Rapids 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 11-16.
