A felon who possessed a firearm pled guilty today in federal court in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Joshua Brown, age 49, from Iowa City was convicted of one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. At the plea hearing, Brown admitted that, on July 18, 2020, he knowingly possessed a pistol after having been convicted of two crimes punishable by more than one year of imprisonment. Brown admitted he had prior convictions for unauthorized possession of an offensive weapon in Johnson County in 1995 and possession of a firearm by a felon in Cedar County in 1996.
Sentencing before United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Brown remains free on bond previously set pending sentencing. Brown faces a possible maximum sentence of ten years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release following any imprisonment.
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.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark Tremmel and is being investigated by the Cedar Rapids Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Linn County Sheriff’s Office.
Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file number is CR 21-14.
Follow us on Twitter @USAO_NDIA.
Making sure that victims of federal crimes are treated with compassion, fairness and respect.
Giving Back to the Community through a variety of venues & initiatives.
Filing Civil Rights Complaint.