A Sioux City man who possessed a firearm and ammunition as a felon, was sentenced to 12 years in Federal Prison July 29, 2022.
Rudy Johnson, age 28, from Sioux City, Iowa, was convicted of possession of firearm and ammunition by a felon. Johnson committed the instant offense after being released from federal prison for a 2012 crime spree.
In the summer of 2012 Johnson illegally acquired 16 guns.
On June 19, 2012, Christopher Bailey, Joshua Fields, David Johnson, Rudy Johnson, Terrence Miles, and Austin Peters used one of those stolen weapons -- a shortened semi-automatic rifle - to rob the employees of Seoul Foods in South Sioux City, Nebraska. The clerks’ children (ages 4, 10, 12, and 14) were also inside the store at the time. Johnson used a knife to hold the store’s butcher at bay during the robbery.
The same day as the 2012 robbery Johnson and others contemplated robbing a Chinese-owned business in Sioux City, Iowa, but the plot was abandoned because the store appeared to be too busy; Instead, Johnson participated in an attempted drive-by shooting of an individual elsewhere in Sioux City, Iowa. The gun misfired and the would-be shooters drove off.
On Aug. 15, 2013, Johnson was sentenced to federal prison for offenses related this crime spree. On Dec. 11, 2020, Johnson commenced a term of federal supervised release after his term of imprisonment and - that same day - he criminally acquired a handgun. On Dec. 20, 2020, he transported that firearm to Iowa, shot a victim nine times with it in Iowa, concealed it, and fled Iowa.
At sentencing Johnson said he did not intend to murder the victim of the Dec. 20, 2020 incident, and he requested a lighter sentence. However, it was undisputed defendant told another that he had “a gun on" him and “whatever happens, happens", and it was undisputed that defendant shot the victim approximately nine times, hitting nobody else, despite the parking lot being crowded with people.
Acting United States Attorney Timothy Duax stated, “This case is a good example of law enforcement using the current federal gun laws to remove a dangerous repeat offender from our community."
Johnson was sentenced before United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand to 120 months’ imprisonment for possessing a firearm as a felon. His term of supervised release was also revoked, and he was sent back to prison for another 24 months’ imprisonment. The two terms of imprisonment were ordered to run consecutively to one another resulting in a total new sentenced of 144 months. He must also serve a 3-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system. Johnson remains in custody of the United States Marshal’s until he can be transported to a federal prison.
The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the U.S. Marshalls, Sioux Falls, South Dakota Task Force and the Sioux City, Iowa Police Department. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Forde Fairchild.
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file number is 21-4086.
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Source: USAO - Iowa, Northern
