Shooting Neighbor’s House Results in Federal Conviction

The following press release was published by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys on May 30, 2019. It is reproduced in full below.

A Cedar County man who shot his neighbor’s house numerous times pled guilty today in federal court in Cedar Rapids to being a felon in possession of ammunition.

Randolph High, age 62, from Stanwood, Iowa, was convicted of being a felon in possession of ammunition.

In a plea agreement, High admitted that on Jan. 27, 2019, he shot his neighbor’s house numerous times. The neighbor’s house, cars, and a camper sustained dozens of bullet impacts. The Cedar County Sheriff’s Office searched High’s home and found magazines for firearms, numerous.22 caliber rounds of ammunition, and 71 expended shell casings for a.22 caliber firearm.

Sentencing before United States District Court Judge CJ Williams will be set after a presentence report is prepared. High remains in custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing. High faces a possible maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and 3 years of supervised release following any imprisonment.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Patrick J. Reinert and was investigated by Cedar County Sheriff’s Office, Iowa State Patrol, and the Muscatine County Sheriff’s Office with the assistance of the Federal 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 effort 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 19-CR-00033.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys