Cedar Rapids Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Unlawfully Possessing a Gun

A man who illegally possessed a gun was sentenced today to more than a year in federal prison.

Demontrae Poole, age 20, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received the prison term after a September 21, 2017, guilty plea to unlawfully possessing a gun while an illegal drug user.  At the guilty plea, Poole admitted he possessed a Jimenez Arms JA380, .380 caliber pistol and that he was an unlawful user of marijuana on May 4, 2017.  Information at sentencing showed that Poole’s criminal history includes two separate convictions for interference with official acts, during which law enforcement officers were injured. 

Poole was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge Linda R. Reade.  Poole was sentenced to ­­­21 months’ imprisonment­­.  He must also serve a 3-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.

Poole is being held in United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.  Poole was originally given pretrial release following his federal indictment, but was taken into custody following numerous violations of the release conditions set by the District Court, including attempting to remove his GPS monitor.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Lyndie Freeman and was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Cedar Rapids Police Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program that has been historically successful in bringing together all levels of law enforcement to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  Attorney General Jeff Sessions has made turning the tide of rising violent crime in America a top priority.  In October 2017, as part of a series of actions to address this crime trend, Attorney General Sessions announced the reinvigoration of PSN and directed all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to develop a district crime reduction strategy that incorporates the lessons learned since PSN launched in 2001.

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

The case file number is 17-cr-0064.

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