Timothy T. Duax U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa
A 29-year-old man from Alta, Iowa, has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for illegally possessing a firearm. Taxavier Ford entered a guilty plea on August 11, 2025, at the federal court in Sioux City to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Ford had previous convictions for drug possession in Indiana in 2017 and for possession of marijuana with intent to deliver and possession of a firearm by a felon in Buena Vista County, Iowa, in 2021. These prior convictions made it illegal for him to have any firearms.
According to evidence presented at the plea and sentencing hearings, on March 14, 2025, law enforcement officers in Storm Lake, Iowa, stopped Ford's vehicle due to illegal window tint. Officers detected the smell of marijuana coming from the car during the stop. A subsequent search led officers to discover a metal object in Ford’s waistband; Ford admitted that he was carrying a loaded firearm.
The case falls under Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), which aims to reduce violent crime and gun violence by coordinating efforts between law enforcement agencies and community organizations. The Department of Justice strengthened this initiative on May 26, 2021, focusing on building trust within communities and supporting violence prevention strategies.
Additionally, the prosecution is part of Operation Take Back America (https://www.justice.gov/dag/media/1393746/dl?inline), a national effort using resources from the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) to combat violent crime and dismantle criminal organizations.
United States District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand presided over the sentencing. Ford received a sentence of 30 months’ imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release. There is no parole available in the federal system. Ford will remain in U.S. Marshals Service custody until he is transferred to federal prison.
