A man formerly from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who possessed a gun after three prior felony convictions was sentenced January 27, 2022, to more than three years in federal prison.
Patrick Derone James, age 28, now from Conyers, Georgia, received the prison term after a June 16, 2021 guilty plea to being a felon in possession of a firearm.
At the guilty plea hearing, James admitted possessing a firearm after being convicted of three felonies, specifically forgery, burglary, and possession of crack cocaine with enhanced penalties. Evidence at previous hearings showed that, on March 21, 2020, James was in a vehicle that had been reported stolen along with an adult female and two minor children in Cedar Rapids. In the vehicle, police officers recovered marijuana and a teal firearm with an obliterated serial number. James admitting possessing the firearm for protection and that he had smoked marijuana in the vehicle earlier in the day.
James was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge Linda R. Reade. James was sentenced to 46 months’ imprisonment. He must also serve a three-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.
James 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 Emily K. Nydle and investigated by the Cedar Rapids Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file number is 20-cr-00049.
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