Cedar Rapids Drug User with Loaded Firearm Sent to Federal Prison

A man who possessed a firearm as an unlawful drug user was sentenced today to 30 months in federal prison.

Silas Paul Griffin, age 31, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received the prison term after a February 8, 2023 guilty plea to possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.

Evidence at the sentencing hearing showed that on January 31, 2022, law enforcement stopped a vehicle in Marion, Iowa.  Griffin was in the front passenger seat.  On his person, officers found hydrocodone pills (prescribed to someone else), marijuana, and a loaded magazine.  Officers then searched underneath Griffin’s seat and found a loaded gun.  Griffin admitted that he possessed the gun.  He later gave a urine sample that tested positive for the presence of THC and benzodiazepines. 

Griffin was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams.  Griffin was sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment and must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.  Griffin is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dillan Edwards and investigated by the Marion Police Department. 

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

The case file number is 22-CR-45.

Follow us on Twitter @USAO_NDIA.