Press Releases
MOUNT VERNON MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO HAVING FIREARM AFTER BEING ORDERED NOT TO HARASS ESTRANGED WIFE
July 3, 2008
Contact: Bob Teig
United States Attorney Matt M. Dummermuth announced today that a man who possessed a shotgun when he was subject to a state court order restraining him from harassing, stalking, or threatening his estranged wife pled guilty today in federal court in Cedar Rapids.
JON AKERS, age 36, from Mount Vernon, Iowa, was convicted of one count of illegal possession of a firearm by a person subject to a state no-contact order.
At the plea hearing, AKERS admitted that, on May 10, 2007, at about 10 p.m., his estranged wife contacted Mount Vernon Police Officers. She reported AKERS had been prowling around her residence previously in violation of a state no-contact order and his truck was then parked near her residence. Officers went to the location and found AKERS’ unoccupied truck. One officer drove near the back yard area of the residence and saw AKERS jump a fence out of the back yard. AKERS was arrested a short time later when he returned to his truck. An inventory of the truck disclosed a cased shotgun behind the front seat of the truck. AKERS was subject to a state no-contact order issued on May 26, 2006, in Linn County, Iowa, District Court that restrained him from harassing, stalking, or threatening his wife. The order also prohibited AKERS from possessing firearms.
Under federal law, a person subject to a state no-contact order protecting an intimate partner may not possess a gun or ammunition. There is no such prohibition under Iowa law.
Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade will be set after a presentence report is prepared. AKERS remains free on bond pending sentencing. AKERS faces a possible maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, a $100 special assessment, and 3 years of supervised release following any imprisonment.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Bob Teig as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a cooperative local, state, and federal program aimed at the enhanced prosecution of gun crimes. The case was investigated by the Mount Vernon Police Department.
