Timothy T. Duax U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa
A Dubuque man, Kenneth Moore, aged 51, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison on July 2, 2025. This sentence follows a jury verdict from January 16, 2025, which found him guilty of possessing a firearm as a felon.
Evidence presented during the trial revealed that on August 4, 2023, at approximately 4:00 a.m., Moore was involved in an argument on the porch of a residence in Dubuque. During this altercation, two individuals attempted to intervene and de-escalate the situation by pushing Moore away. However, Moore fired a pistol towards the residence. The bullet narrowly missed two people and went through the front wall before lodging in the back living room wall. Following this incident, Moore fled the scene but was arrested twelve days later on August 16, when officers found the pistol he had used during a search of his car.
Moore's previous criminal record includes eleven felony convictions which prohibited him from possessing firearms. He received his sentence from United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams in Cedar Rapids. Alongside his imprisonment for 180 months, Moore is required to serve a three-year term of supervised release after completing his prison term as there is no parole option within the federal system.
This case falls under Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), an initiative designed to reduce violent crime and gun violence by uniting various levels of law enforcement with community efforts to enhance neighborhood safety. On May 26, 2021, PSN was reinforced with strategies focusing on building trust within communities and supporting organizations that prevent violence while setting strategic enforcement priorities and measuring outcomes.
Currently held in United States Marshal’s custody pending transfer to federal prison facilities, Moore's case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dillan Edwards along with Special Assistant United States Attorney Jared Manternach. The investigation involved contributions from both the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Dubuque Police Department.
