CEDAR RAPIDS – A man who unlawfully possessed a firearm silencer was sentenced today to more than four years in federal prison.
Shane Horsfall, age 37, from Dubuque, Iowa, received the prison term after a September 15, 2020 guilty plea to possession of an unregistered silencer.
In a plea agreement and at sentencing, Horsfall agreed that he possessed at least 17 firearms unlawfully because was a drug user when he possessed them. He also agreed that he unlawfully purchased at least two of those firearms after having been civilly committed. Horsfall further agreed that, during the period when he was unlawfully possessing firearms, he sold more than 10 firearms, including to at least two felons and knowing that one of those felons was on parole at the time of the transaction.
Horsfall was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams. Horsfall was sentenced to 54 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.
Horsfall was released on the bond previously set and is to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on a date yet to be set.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jake Schunk and investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the Dubuque Police Department.
