SIOUX CITY – A convicted Northern Iowa felon who possessed stolen guns was sentenced on March 6, 2020, to more than a year in federal prison.
Thomas Robert Ginger, Jr., age 45, from Primgar, Iowa, received the prison term after a guilty plea to one count of possession of a firearm by a felon and one count of possession of a stolen firearm. Ginger was previously convicted of felony sponsoring a gathering for use of drugs. Ginger also has four convictions for OWI.
Information provided by the United States at the arraignment, change of plea and sentencing hearings, showed that when Ginger learned of his father’s death, he left his grieving family at the hospital, drove nearly two miles to his mother’s home, and kicked in the exterior door. Once inside, Ginger then broke through another door into an interior “gun room” and stole 55 firearms that had belonged to his father’s Federal Firearm Licensee business. Ginger also took $7,700 in cash and a briefcase that contained a coin collection. He hid the guns in a car at one person’s home and hid the money underneath a sink at his home. When law enforcement confronted Ginger about the crime he initially lied about his whereabouts and involvement. Later, after the weapons were discovered, he confessed.
Ginger was sentenced in Sioux City by United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand. Ginger was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment. He must also serve a 3-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
Ginger will self-report to a federal prison.
