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Press Release

Waterloo Man Pleads Guilty to Being a Felon and Unlawful Drug User in Possession of a Firearm

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Iowa

A man who was found in possession of a handgun in relation to a shooting pled guilty yesterday in federal court in Cedar Rapids.

Dameon Harris, age 23, from Waterloo, Iowa, was convicted of being a felon and unlawful drug user in possession of a firearm.  In a plea agreement, Harris admitted that on April 7, 2015, he was outside his girlfriend’s apartment complex when someone in a white vehicle drove by and shot at him.  Defendant was, at the time, armed with a .22 caliber Mossberg firearm.  Before the police arrived to investigate the shooting, Harris tried to hide his firearm in his girlfriend’s apartment.  At the time Harris possessed the firearm, he was an unlawful user of marijuana.  Harris had previously been convicted in 2013 of the felony offense of Aggravated Unlawful Use of a Weapon in Chicago, Illinois.

Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade will be set after a presentence report is prepared.  Harris in the custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing.  Harris faces a possible maximum sentence of ten years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, $100 in special assessments, and up to three years of supervised release following any imprisonment.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney C.J. Williams and was investigated by the Waterloo Police Department and the Blackhawk County Sheriff’s Office.

Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.  The case file number is 15-CR-2016-LRR.

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Updated July 15, 2015