A man who illegally possessed a firearm and a high-capacity magazine was sentenced on July 20, 2022, in federal court in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Dennis Earl Williams, Jr., age 32, from Chicago, Illinois, pled guilty on January 13, 2022, to being an unlawful drug user in possession of a firearm.
Evidence in the record showed that Williams was traveling through Dubuque, Iowa, with a loaded Glock, Model 19, 9mm caliber pistol along with a 50‑round drum magazine. Williams had marijuana in his system during the same time frame.
Sentencing was held before United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams. Williams was sentenced to serve 57 months’ imprisonment and must serve a three‑year term of supervised release following his term of incarceration. There is no parole in the federal system.
The case was prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Devra T. Hake and Assistant United States Attorney Jason D. Norwood and was investigated by the Dubuque Drug Task Force and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
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 21‑CR‑01030.