2-Time Convicted Felon Found Guilty of Unlawfully Possessing a Sawed-Off Shotgun
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — A twice convicted felon who unlawfully possessed a sawed-off shotgun was convicted by a jury today, after a two-day trial in federal court in Cedar Rapids.
Larry Jones, 62, of Waterloo, Iowa, was convicted of one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of possessing a shortened shotgun. The verdict was returned this afternoon following about one hour of jury deliberations.
The evidence at trial showed that on Sept. 7, 2022, Jones was involved in a dispute with another individual. During the dispute, Jones went into his house and emerged with a sawed-off shotgun. The other individual took a video on his cellphone of Jones with the firearm.
Officers from the Waterloo Police Department were eventually dispatched to the scene and learned of the gun. They eventually found the firearm behind Jones’ property after he told an officer that he wrapped the shotgun in a tarp and threw it behind his house. The weapon had a barrel length of approximately 13 inches. Any weapon with a barrel length of 18 inches is illegal to possess unless it is registered with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Jones had also previously been convicted of felony burglary twice.
Sentencing before U.S. District Court Judge C.J. Williams will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Jones was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals after the verdict was returned and will remain in custody pending sentencing. Jones faces a possible maximum sentence of 25 years’ imprisonment, a $500,000 fine and 6 years of supervised release following any imprisonment.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nicole Nagin and Anthony Morfitt and was investigated by a federal task force composed of the Waterloo Police Department, FBI and Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, assisted by the Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office and Cedar Falls Police Department.
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 is available; the case file number is 23-CR-2015.
Follow us on X (formerly Twitter) @USAO_NDIA.
###
