Cedar Rapids Man Sentenced to Over Four Years in Federal Prison for Being a Felon in Possession of a Firearm

A felon who possessed a firearm was sentenced today to 57 months in federal prison.

Leon Sheley, age 24, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received the sentence after a July 19, 2021 guilty plea to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.  At the plea hearing, Sheley admitted that, on May 20, 2020, he knowingly possessed a pistol after having been convicted of three crimes punishable by more than one year of imprisonment.  Sheley admitted he had prior convictions for theft in the second degree in 2016, theft in the first degree in 2016, and escape from custody in 2017. 

Sheley was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams.  Sheley was sentenced to 57 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. 

This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark Tremmel and was investigated by the Cedar Rapids Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. 

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

The case file number is CR 21-17. 

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