Waterloo Felon and Drug User Sentenced to Five Years in Federal Prison for Unlawfully Possessing Guns

A man who previously spent time in state prison for burglary and robbery offenses was sentenced July 11, 2019, to five years in federal prison.

Jacob Mervin Gary, age 29, from Waterloo, Iowa, received the prison term after a March 14, 2019, guilty plea to being a felon and drug user in possession of a firearm.

At his guilty plea, Gary admitted he knowingly possessed multiple guns after having been convicted of the felony offenses of conspiracy to commit robbery and attempted burglary and while being an unlawful user of marijuana.  On September 26, 2018, Waterloo police officers searched Gary’s residence and found a rifle with a high capacity magazine attached, another rifle, a pistol, and multiple types of ammunition.  Gary was on parole at the time.  

Gary was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams.  Gary was sentenced to 60 months’ imprisonment.  He must also serve a 3-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.

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.        

Gary 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 Kyndra Lundquist and investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and the Waterloo Police Department. 

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

The case file number is 18-cr-2069.

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