Cedar Rapids Man Sentenced To Over 19 Years In Prison For Possession Of A Handgun After Having Been Convicted Of Eight Prior Felonies
Contact: Peter Deegan
A man who possessed a firearm after having been convicted of eight prior felonies was sentenced November 19, 2012, to more than 19 years in federal prison.
Maurice Jones, age 43, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received the prison term after a May 17, 2012, jury verdict finding him guilty of one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The evidence at trial showed that just after midnight on the morning of October 26, 2010, officers responded to a report of shots fired in the 1400 block of 4th Ave SE in Cedar Rapids. Officers went to a house which was believed to be the location of the gunfire where there was a large group of people on the porch. During a search of the porch, officers found a loaded 9mm Ruger handgun. In an interview a couple of days later, Jones admitted to officers that he possessed the gun and hid it on the porch when officers arrived. Jones had previously been convicted of eight felony offenses in Cook County, Illinois, specifically: burglary in 1986; possession with intent to deliver cocaine in 1988 and 1998; robbery and armed robbery in 1993; possession of heroin in 1998 and 2002; and possession with intent to deliver marijuana in 2003. After moving to Iowa in 2004, Jones was convicted four times in Linn County Iowa District Court of assault.
Jones was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade. Jones was sentenced to 235 months’ imprisonment. A special assessment of $100 was imposed. He must also serve a five-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
Jones is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.
This case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a cooperative local, state and federal program aimed at the enhanced prosecution of gun crimes. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel C. Tvedt and was investigated by the Cedar Rapids Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms 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 11-0059.
