Ethan Porter, a 33-year-old resident of Cedar Rapids, has been sentenced to 110 months in federal prison for being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm. The sentence was handed down in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams on January 18, 2024, following Porter’s guilty plea on July 11, 2023.
During his plea hearing, Porter admitted that in June 2022, he was in possession of a Taurus pistol. At the time, he was an unlawful drug user and had prior convictions including three felonies and a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, which legally barred him from possessing a firearm.
In addition to the prison term, Porter is required to serve a three-year term of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.
The prosecution of this case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a central initiative by the Department of Justice to reduce violent crime. PSN employs an evidence-based approach to identify and address the most serious violent crime issues in communities, focusing on the most violent offenders and integrating prevention and reentry programs for sustainable crime reduction.
Assistant United States Attorney Mark Tremmel prosecuted the case. The investigation was a collaborative effort by the High Risk Unit of the Sixth Judicial District Department of Correctional Services, the Cedar Rapids Police Department, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.