Anamosa Felon Sentenced to Seven Years in Federal Prison for Helping to Fence Stolen Guns

An Anamosa man who helped fence stolen firearms was sentenced on June 20, 2019, to seven years in federal prison.

David A. Miller, age 48, from Anamosa, Iowa, received the prison term after a January 14, 2019, guilty plea to one count of possessing a firearm as a felon.

At the guilty plea and other court hearings, evidence established that, in March 2017, Miller received seven guns from another felon in rural Anamosa.  Miller agreed to take the seven guns to a third man’s home in Olin in order to facilitate a trade of the guns for a stolen four-wheeler.  Officers later found the guns during a search of the Olin man’s home.  Then, in January 2018, officers found an eighth firearm during a search of a shop at Miller’s home.  Miller was storing the eighth firearm for his son, after his son’s mother kicked the son out of her house.

Miller has an extensive criminal history, which includes more than 30 adult criminal convictions, including five drunk driving convictions and a conviction for manufacturing methamphetamine in Benton County.  Miller was on pretrial release in state court in Jones County for a felony theft charge when he received the seven stolen firearms.

Miller was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams.  Miller was sentenced to 84 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.

Miller 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 Tim Vavricek and investigated by the Jones County Sheriff’s Office. 

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

The case file number is 18-CR-99-CJW.