CEDAR RAPIDS – A Cedar Rapids teenager who was arrested for possessing a firearm for the fourth time in little more than two years, and while on state court probation for possessing a firearm as a felon, was sentenced on May 18, 2020 to five years in federal prison.
Untario Devonte McGhee, also known as “Memphis” and “Tario Nolove,” age 19, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, originally from Memphis, Tennessee, received the prison term after a January 6, 2020, guilty plea to one count of possession of a firearm by a felon.
At the plea and sentencing hearings, the evidence showed that, on April 10, 2019, Cedar Rapids Police Department officers attempted to arrest McGhee on a probation violation warrant and found McGhee in a vehicle in Cedar Rapids. As the officers neared McGhee, he locked the vehicle’s door. The officers saw a firearm in McGhee’s right hand. An officer ordered McGhee to raise his hands, but McGhee lowered his right hand and, when he raised it, it was empty. Officers pulled McGhee from the vehicle and, where his right hand had been, located a loaded and stolen handgun.
At the time, McGhee was on probation in state court after he was convicted of possessing a loaded stolen firearm as a felon in November 2018. McGhee was arrested for carrying firearms illegally in June 2018 and February 2017, as well. McGhee also has prior arrests for possessing marijuana with intent to deliver, disorderly conduct, providing false identification information, and assault.
McGhee was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams. McGhee was sentenced to 60 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.
McGhee 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 Cedar Rapids Police Department.
