Drug User Who Illegally Possessed Gun Sent to Federal Prison

A man who illegally possessed a firearm was sentenced on April 29, 2019, to more than three years in federal prison.

Tondrell Darnez Gary, Jr., age 23, from Waterloo, Iowa, received the prison term after a November 5, 2018, guilty plea to being a drug user in possession of a firearm.

At the guilty plea, Gary admitted he possessed a Ruger 9mm handgun on June 11, 2018.  Gary admitted that when police attempted to stop a car he was traveling in, he tossed the gun out of the car window into a residential area.  Police eventually stopped the car and Gary admitted to being a regular marijuana user.

Gary was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams.  Gary was sentenced to 41 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.

Gary 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 Lisa C. Williams 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.