CEDAR RAPIDS – A convicted Northern Iowa kidnapper who was found in possession of a firearm by police has been sent to prison for two years.
Rusty Joe Barker, age 39, from Hawkeye, Iowa, received a 2-year prison term after a November 7, 2022 guilty plea to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
At the guilty plea, Barker admitted he possessed a firearm on August 10, 2022, and that he had previously been convicted in 2007 in Chickasaw County, Iowa, of the felony offenses of third-degree kidnapping, and two counts of willful injury-causing serious injury. The firearm was found in Barker’s house.
Barker was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams. Barker was sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment and must also serve a 3-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
Barker 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 Patrick J. Reinert and investigated by Fayette County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
(PHOTO: RUSTY BARKER jail photo)
