Webster County Man Pleads Guilty to Firearms Offense

A man who possessed an unregistered short-barreled firearm pled guilty yesterday in federal court in Sioux City, Iowa.

Jason Jay Hoogland, 38, from Fort Dodge, Iowa, was convicted of one count of possession of an unregistered firearm, a short-barreled shotgun.

At the plea hearing, Hoogland admitted that on January 20, 2025, in Fort Dodge, he possessed a short-barreled 20-gauge shotgun which was not registered to him as required in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.  That same day, he also possessed a stolen pistol.  Law enforcement located these items, and drug paraphernalia, at defendant’s residence after executing a search warrant based on information that he had used a firearm to assault a person being treated at a local hospital.  Later, on April 23, 2025, in Fort Dodge, Hoogland was found to possess another stolen firearm and short-barreled firearms not registered to him in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.

Sentencing before United States District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand will be set after a presentence report is prepared.  Hoogland remains in custody of the United States Marshals Service and will remain in custody pending sentencing.  Hoogland faces a possible maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment, a $10,000 fine, and three years of supervised release following any imprisonment.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Patrick T. Greenwood and was investigated by the Fort Dodge Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF).

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.  This case is also part of Operation Take Back America (https://www.justice.gov/dag/media/1393746/dl?inline) a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).  

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.  The case file number is 25-CR-03033.  Follow us on X @USAO_NDIA.