CEDAR RAPIDS – A Waterloo man who possessed a firearm in a car in Waterloo in June 2018 was sentenced May 15, 2019, to nearly two years in federal prison.
Dereon Equwan Davenport, age 20, from Waterloo, Iowa, received the prison term after a November 8, 2018, guilty plea to possessing a firearm as a drug user.
Evidence at sentencing showed that Davenport was driving a car in Waterloo on June 3, 3018, when the Waterloo Police Department stopped him for a traffic violation. When officers approached the vehicle, they smelled marijuana. During a search of the car, officers found an unloaded German .22 caliber revolver and marijuana in the front center console. At the time, Davenport was wanted in Winnebago County, Illinois, for probation violations arising out of an incident in which Davenport was found with dealer-quantity hydrocodone and other prescription pills at a school. There was also a warrant outstanding for Davenport’s arrest in Madison County, Illinois, after Davenport tried to punch his counselor with a closed fist and threatened to return to his health care provider’s place of business with a gun to “shoot the place up.”
Davenport was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams. Davenport was sentenced to 21 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.
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.
Davenport was is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Tim Vavricek and investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Waterloo Police Department.
