A man who unlawfully possessed a firearm was sentenced today to six months in federal prison.
Daric Lawrence, age 36, from Dubuque, Iowa, received the prison term after an Aug. 10, 2021 guilty plea to possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.
At the guilty plea, Lawrence admitted that, on Feb. 26, 2021, he knowingly possessed a firearm, a 9mm pistol, as a prohibited person. Lawrence was prohibited from possessing a firearm because he was an unlawful user of marijuana and because he was subject to a state court order restraining him from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner. Shortly after midnight on Feb. 26, a Dubuque police officer stopped Lawrence’s car for running a red light. During the traffic stop, Lawrence told the police officer that he had a gun in his waistband and that he had used marijuana earlier that evening. Lawrence also told the police officer that there was a no contact order in place against him.
Lawrence was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams. Lawrence was sentenced to six 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 Daniel C. Tvedt and investigated by the Dubuque Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file number is 21-CR-1014.
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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
