Marion Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Possessing a Firearm as a Felon

A man who possessed a firearm was sentenced November 21, 2024, to more than three years in federal prison.

James Carl Morgan, age 42, from Marion, Iowa, received the prison term after a June 26, 2024, guilty plea to one count of possession of a firearm by a felon.

At the guilty plea, Morgan admitted that on June 6, 2023, he knowingly possessed a Canik TP9 SF, 9x19mm caliber pistol, as a felon. On June 6, 2023, police officers went to a Cedar Rapids motel to arrest Morgan on a warrant for possession of a firearm as a felon from 2022. When officers knocked on the motel room door, Morgan attempted to crawl out the window, but reentered the room when confronted by a police dog. After officers cleared the room, they found the loaded 9mm handgun with an extended magazine on the floor by the window.

Morgan was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams. Morgan was sentenced to 46 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.

Morgan 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 Daniel C. Tvedt and investigated by Cedar Rapids Police Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.

The case file number is 24-CR-24.

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