Fugitive Caught With Stolen Firearm Headed To Federal Prison

A 19-year old fugitive from Illinois was sentenced to almost four years in federal prison after he was caught in Cedar Rapids with a gun that had been stolen during a home burglary.

Austin Curtis received the prison term after an August 13, 2013 guilty plea to possession of a firearm as a fugitive from justice.

Court documents show that Curtis was charged in Illinois with Domestic Battery Causing Bodily Harm.  Instead of appearing in court on the domestic battery charge, Curtis removed a court-ordered ankle bracelet that monitored his location and fled to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where Curtis had previously lived.  During an April 22, 2013 traffic stop in Cedar Rapids, Curtis was found with a 9 millimeter pistol in his waistband.  The pistol had been stolen from a home burglary that occurred in Cedar Rapids that same day.  At the time he was found with the pistol, Curtis was on probation for a residential burglary that occurred in 2012 in Illinois.

Curtis was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade.  Curtis was sentenced to 46 months’ imprisonment. A special assessment of $100 was imposed.  Curtis must serve a 3-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.

            Curtis 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 Justin Lightfoot, and was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Safe Streets Task Force, which is comprised of the FBI; the Cedar Rapids Police Department; and the High Risk Unit, Sixth Judicial District Department of Correctional Services.

Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.  The case file number is 13-CR-46.