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Press Release

Cedar Rapids Man Headed to Prison for Possessing Drugs and Guns

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Iowa
Also Ordered to Pay a $20,000 Fine

A man who possessed multiple firearms and drugs was sentenced today to more than eight years in federal prison.

Daniel James Abbott, age 48, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received the prison term after a September 2, 2020 guilty plea to possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

Documents filed earlier in the case show that in September 2019, Abbott was arrested with a backpack containing methamphetamine and marijuana-based edibles.  Officers recovered a firearm a short distance away and Abbott was wearing a gun holster.  Law enforcement officers searched two businesses run by Abbott.  Officers located methamphetamine, marijuana, drug paraphernalia, another firearm, and $50,000 in cash at one business.  In October 2019, officers searched Abbott’s residence and recovered methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia, and approximately 4,732 rounds of ammunition in various caliber

Abbott was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams.  Abbott was sentenced to 105 months’ imprisonment and fined $20,000.  He was ordered to pay $4,736 in attorney fees.  He must also serve a five-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.

Abbott 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 Emily K. Nydle and was investigated as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program of the United States Department of Justice through a cooperative effort of the Hiawatha Police Department, the Cedar Rapids Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Linn County Sheriff’s Office, the Marion Police Department, the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. 

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.

This case is also part of Project Guardian, the Department of Justice’s signature initiative to reduce gun violence and enforce federal firearms laws. Initiated by the Attorney General in the fall of 2019, Project Guardian draws upon the Department’s past successful programs to reduce gun violence; enhances coordination of federal, state, local, and tribal authorities in investigating and prosecuting gun crimes; improves information-sharing by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives when a prohibited individual attempts to purchase a firearm and is denied by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), to include taking appropriate actions when a prospective purchaser is denied by the NICS for mental health reasons; and ensures that federal resources are directed at the criminals posing the greatest threat to our communities. For more information about Project Guardian, please see /media/1122011/dl?inline

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

The case file number is 20-cr-00032.

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Updated February 19, 2021

Topics
Project Guardian
Project Safe Neighborhoods
Drug Trafficking
Firearms Offenses