A felon who possessed a firearm and then ran from the police was sentenced March 16, 2022, to more than five years in federal prison.
Christopher Cungtion, Jr., age 29, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received the prison term after an August 19, 2021 guilty plea to one count of possession of a firearm by a felon.
Information presented at sentencing showed that on September 7, 2020, Cungtion was a passenger in a van that was stopped by the Cedar Rapids Police Department. As the van was stopping, Cungtion placed a loaded 9mm pistol into his girlfriend’s purse. After the van stopped, he immediately ran from the van. A CRPD officer ran after and caught Cungtion and arrested him on an outstanding warrant. Officers later searched the girlfriend’s purse and found the firearm. Cungtion had previously been convicted of 20 crimes as an adult, including felonies for third degree burglary, intimidation with a dangerous weapon, willful injury resulting in bodily injury, and assault with a dangerous weapon.
Cungtion was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams. Cungtion was sentenced to 63 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.
Cungtion is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.
The case was investigated by the Cedar Rapids Police Department and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dan Chatham.
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.
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is 20‑CR‑00100‑CJW‑MAR.
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