Sioux City Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Escape from Federal Custody

A man who walked out of a residential reentry center in Sioux City was sentenced on January 6, 2023, to more than one year in federal prison.

Paul Marvin Cooper, age 25, from Sioux City, received the prison term after an October 14, 2022, guilty plea to one count of escape from federal custody.

In a plea agreement, Cooper admitted that he knowingly escaped from custody of Dismas Charities Residential Reentry Center in Sioux City, Iowa, where he was lawfully confined by virtue of a conviction for Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance in the District of South Dakota. 

On July 7, 2022, Cooper signed out of Dismas Charities to attend a treatment program in downtown Sioux City.  At approximately 6:20 p.m. on July 7th, Dismas was alerted of a tampering alarm on Cooper’s GPS device along with its location.  Dismas staff tried contacting Cooper’s personal phone several times but there was no answer.  The GPS was later located in the trash at a retail store on Floyd Boulevard in Sioux City and appeared to have been cut off.  Cooper’s whereabouts were unknown until he was arrested on July 12, 2022, by the United States Marshals Service at a retail store located on Pierce Street in Sioux City.

Cooper was sentenced in Sioux City by United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand. Cook was sentenced to 12 months’ and one-day imprisonment.  He must also serve a 3-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.

Cooper 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 Kevin C. Fletcher and investigated by the United States Marshal’s Service.   

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.  The case file number is 22-CR-4056.

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