Kenyan Man Convicted of Illegally Possessing a Firearm

Kevin Oscar Naholi, age 40, a Kenyan citizen previously residing in southwest Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was convicted by a federal jury today, following a one day trial, on one count of possessing a firearm as an alien unlawfully in the United States and after having been previously convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence. 

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Evidence presented at trial showed that at about 6:00 pm on Saturday evening, August 26, 2017, Naholi was outside his residence and pointed a .22 caliber Winchester rifle at a neighbor and her two small children who were returning home from dinner at a nearby restaurant.  The neighbor and her children ran to a nearby house where she called 9-1-1.  By the time police responded, Naholi had retreated into his residence and an eleven-hour standoff ensued.  Cedar Rapids Police attempted to negotiate with Napoli during that time but he refused to come out of the residence.  At about 4:30 a.m. on August 27, 2017, a special response unit of the Cedar Rapids Police Department safely entered the residence and took Naholi into custody.  Police seized the .22 caliber rifle from a bedroom in the residence

The complaint originally filed in the case alleged that Naholi entered the United States from Kenya in 2003 on a student visa.  However, when Naholi failed to register for classes as required by the visa, the visa was revoked in 2004.  Naholi subsequently sought unsuccessfully to gain lawful status in the United States.

Naholi faces a possible maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, $100 in special assessments, and 3 years of supervised release following any imprisonment.­ Naholi will also likely be deported from the United States.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Richard L. Murphy and was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Cedar Rapids Police Department.

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

The case file number is 17-CR-00070- LRR.

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