A man who possessed a firearm as a felon was sentenced today to almost five years in federal prison.
Dorondis Cooper, age 36, from Waterloo, Iowa, received the prison term after an April 11, 2022, guilty plea to one count of possession of a firearm by a felon.
At the guilty plea, Cooper admitted that, on December 22, 2021, he knowingly possessed a firearm, a HiPoint Model C9, 9mm handgun, as a prohibited person. On December 21, police officers responded to a residence in Waterloo regarding a report of a man with a gun. Cooper had discharged a firearm in the upstairs of the house while intoxicated. After hearing the gunshot, a resident of the house hid four minor children in a bathroom. Cooper then argued with the resident, who was standing between Cooper and the bathroom, while Cooper waved the gun around. Cooper drove off and was arrested when he returned to the house. Waterloo Police officers found the loaded handgun on the front passenger seat of Cooper’s car. Cooper was prohibited from possessing a firearm because he was previously convicted on May 23, 2005, of Ongoing Criminal Conduct and Intimidation with a Dangerous Weapon, both felonies. In that case, Cooper and others shot into an occupied house in Waterloo, killing a woman within.
Cooper was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams. Cooper was sentenced to 57 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.
Cooper 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 Attorneys Lisa C. Williams and Daniel C. Tvedt and investigated by the Waterloo Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file number is 22-CR-2009.
Follow us on Twitter @USAO_NDIA.