Police found a convicted felon with a loaded antique firearm while on escape status from the Waterloo Residential Correctional Facility
A convicted felon who unlawfully possessed ammunition was sentenced today to more than two years’ in federal prison.
Mopreme Vychon Todd-Harris, age 21, from Hiawatha, Iowa, received the prison sentence after a February 7, 2020 guilty plea to being a felon in possession of ammunition. In 2017, Todd-Harris was convicted of burglary 3rd degree, a felony conviction. The conviction prohibited him from legally possessing a firearm or ammunition.
Information disclosed at sentencing and in his plea agreement showed that on July 21, 2019, Waterloo police officers observed Todd-Harris, who officers knew to have an outstanding warrant for his arrest, in public with a group of other people. Officers approached Todd-Harris and saw a gun in his right hand. The gun was loaded with live rounds of ammunition, though the gun was later determined to be an antique. The warrant for Todd-Harris’s arrest was because he had previously escaped from the Waterloo Residential Correctional Facility.
Todd-Harris was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams. Todd-Harris was sentenced to 27 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.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ashley Corkery and Special Assistant United States Attorney Alexander Geocaris and investigated by the Waterloo Police Department and the 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 efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
This case is also part of Project Guardian, the Department of Justice’s signature initiative to reduce gun violence and enforce federal firearms laws. Initiated by the Attorney General in the fall of 2019, Project Guardian draws upon the Department’s past successful programs to reduce gun violence; enhances coordination of federal, state, local, and tribal authorities in investigating and prosecuting gun crimes; improves information-sharing by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives when a prohibited individual attempts to purchase a firearm and is denied by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), to include taking appropriate actions when a prospective purchaser is denied by the NICS for mental health reasons; and ensures that federal resources are directed at the criminals posing the greatest threat to our communities. The United States Attorney’s Office has prosecuted this case with support from its Project Guardian partners. For more information about Project Guardian, please see https://www.justice.gov/ag/page/file/1217186/download.
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file number is 19-CR-2061.
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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
