A man who threw a loaded handgun and crack cocaine from a car while being pulled over by police was sentenced today to more than 15 years in federal prison.
Donte Kent, age 33, from Iowa City, Iowa, received the prison term after a May 7, 2021 guilty plea to one count of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance after a prior felony drug conviction and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
In a plea agreement Kent admitted that on June 27, 2020, he was the passenger in a car involved in a traffic stop in Linn County, Iowa. When the officer activated lights to initiate the traffic stop, Kent began throwing items, including a loaded Ruger 9mm pistol, out of the passenger side window. Kent also threw a bag containing 28 individually wrapped quantities of crack cocaine and a scale. Kent had prior convictions for four domestic abuse assaults, a felony crack cocaine distribution, and another conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm.
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.
Kent was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams. Kent was sentenced to 188 total months’ imprisonment, with 188 months for the drug crime and 120 concurrent months for the firearm crime. He must also serve a six-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
Kent is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.
The case was investigated by the was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Task Force consisting of the DEA; the Linn County Sheriff's Office; the Cedar Rapids Police Department; the Marion Police Department; and the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jacob Schunk and Dan Chatham.
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file number is 21-CR-00013‑CJW‑MAR.
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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
