Press Release
Iowa Marijuana Dealer Who Possessed Guns to Federal Prison
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Iowa
Gully was a career criminal and distributed at least 20 kilograms of marijuana
A man who conspired to distribute marijuana while possessing firearms in furtherance of the drug conspiracy was sentenced October 5, 2021, to more than 6.5 years in federal prison.
Tvonn Gully, 25, from Fort Dodge, Iowa, received the prison term after an April 21, 2021, guilty plea to conspiracy to distribute marijuana and possession of a firearm during and in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
Evidence at Gully’s plea and sentencing hearings showed that between April, 2019 and February, 2020, Gully was a pound-level dealer of marijuana and distributed at least 20 kilograms of marijuana to others during the conspiracy. On April 18, 2019, law enforcement conducted a traffic stop on Gully’s vehicle in Fort Dodge. During a search of Gully’s vehicle, officers located several baggies of marijuana and a loaded 9mm caliber handgun under the driver’s seat of the vehicle. On February 11, 2020, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Gully’s residence. During the search, officers seized 400 Xanax pills, 2,165 grams of marijuana, a stolen .380 caliber Walther PK handgun, two cell phones, two digital scales, and $1,322 cash. Gully had two prior state drug convictions which made him a career offender under federal law.
Gully was sentenced in Sioux City by United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand. Gully was sentenced to 93 months’ imprisonment but received a sentence reduction of 13 months and 19 days for time already served on a related state offense. He must also serve a 4-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system. Gully is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.
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.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mikala Steenholdt and Patrick T. Greenwood and investigated by Fort Dodge Police Department, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, Webster County Sheriff’s Office, and Iowa DCI Laboratory.
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file number is 20-3036. Follow us on Twitter @USAO_NDIA.
Updated October 6, 2021
Topics
Project Safe Neighborhoods
Drug Trafficking
Firearms Offenses
Component