A man who unlawfully possessed a loaded handgun in April pled guilty on September 4, 2015, in federal court in Cedar Rapids.
Darius Devon Flowers, age 26, from Cedar Rapids, was convicted of being a felon and domestic abuser in possession of a firearm and ammunition.
At the plea hearing, Flowers admitted that prior to possessing the loaded handgun in April 2015, he had previously been convicted of two felony offenses and two misdemeanor domestic abuse offenses. Public filings allege that on April 22, 2015, Cedar Rapids police were dispatched to a call of a male in possession of a firearm at a residence. A witness at the scene reported Flowers, who appeared to be intoxicated, arrived at her door, showed her the firearm, and told her to call him if she needed him for anything or needed him to “handle anything." The female called the Cedar Rapids Police Department and provided a description of the vehicle in which Flowers was a passenger. Cedar Rapids Police found the vehicle shortly thereafter, and found the loaded handgun underneath Flowers’s seat.
Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Flowers remains in custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing. Flowers faces a possible maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, $100 in special assessments, and 3 years of supervised release following any imprisonment.
The case was investigated by the Cedar Rapids Safe Street Task Force. The task force is composed of representatives from the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Drug Enforcement Administration; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; United States Marshals Service; Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation; Cedar Rapids Police Department; Marion Police Department; Sixth Judicial District Department of Correctional Services; Linn County Sheriff’s Office; and Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dan Chatham.
Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file numbers are 15-CR-0068-LRR and 15-MJ-00189.
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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
