A Cedar Rapids man who possessed a gun after having five felony convictions and a conviction for a misdemeanor domestic abuse offense was sentenced January 26, 2026, to seven and a half years in federal prison.
Kirby Joe Truesdell, age 48, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received the prison term after a jury verdict finding him guilty of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. The jury verdict came after a two-day trial in federal court in Cedar Rapids.
The evidence at trial showed that on November 25, 2024, Truesdell was seen in an unoccupied home in Cedar Rapids. When police officers arrived on scene to investigate, they found Truesdell coming out of the detached garage. Truesdell was not cooperative with officers, and they took him into custody. Officers found a loaded revolver inside a backpack in Truesdell’s possession. Truesdell was previously convicted of five felony offenses, including OWI 3rd Offense, burglary, theft, and forgery. He was also previously convicted of assault causing bodily injury – domestic abuse-penalty enhanced.
Truesdell was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams. Truesdell was sentenced to 90 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.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.
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.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Emily Nydle and Special Assistant United States Attorney Michael Hudson and was investigated by the Cedar Rapids Police Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, and the Linn County Sheriff’s Department with assistance from the US Marshal Service and the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation.
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl .
The case file number is 25-cr-00006.
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Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office — Northern District of Iowa — U.S. Department of Justice press release.