Firearm Possession Results in Prison Sentence

A man who was found in possession of a firearm by Fayette County authorities who were initially assisting in a runaway child investigation was sentenced today to more than two years in federal prison.

Rusty Joe Barker, age 39, from Hawkeye, Iowa, received the prison term after a November 7, 2022 guilty plea to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

At the guilty plea, Barker admitted he possessed a firearm on August 10, 2022, and that he had previously been convicted in 2007 in Chickasaw County, Iowa, of the felony offenses of third-degree kidnapping, and two counts of willful injury-causing serious injury.  The firearm was found in Barker’s house.

Barker was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams.  Barker was sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment and must also serve a 3-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.

Barker 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 Patrick J. Reinert and investigated by Fayette County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. 

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

The case file number is 22-CR-02057.

Follow us on Twitter @USAO_NDIA.