The final person charged after five guns were found during a search in Waterloo, Iowa, was sentenced July 6, 2022, to more than three years in federal prison.
William Rashad Burt, age 28, from Waterloo, Iowa, received the prison term after a February 22, 2022 guilty plea to possession of a firearm by a felon.
Evidence in this case showed that, on July 6, 2021, law enforcement officers searched a residence and located four felons, including Burt, and five firearms. Officers also found evidence of marijuana trafficking. Burt was found with a revolver and $1,272 in cash. While being arrested, Burt told officers that he would obtain more guns and threatened them. Burt was previously convicted of the felony offense of possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute.
Burt’s co-defendants were sentenced on June 10, 2022. Qunshaundes Davion McNealy was sentenced to 120 months’ imprisonment. William McNealy III was sentenced to 87 months’ imprisonment. Sahjit Mcyle Phillips was sentenced to 100 months’ imprisonment for possessing firearms and the Court revoked Phillips’ term of supervised release for a 2017 federal conviction and imposed an additional term of 10 months’ imprisonment to run consecutively to the new case for a total of 110 months’ months imprisonment.
Burt was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams. Burt was sentenced to 42 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.
Burt 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 was investigated by a Federal Task Force composed of the Waterloo Police Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms assisted by the Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office and Cedar Falls Police Department.
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file numbers are 21-cr-2064
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