Maxwell, Harden Guilty in Waterloo Armed Robbery

Two men pointed guns at two Waterloo residents, demanded marijuana, cash, and cell phones, and left with the victims’ belongings in a violent November 2020 robbery—and yesterday, they faced the consequence. Antione Maxwell, 33, of Mason City, Iowa, and Chavee Harden, 32, of Waterloo, were found guilty by a federal jury in Cedar Rapids after a four-day trial that laid bare their coordinated crime spree.

The conviction stems from a single count of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery, with both men now staring down a maximum of 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release. Maxwell, a convicted felon, was also found guilty of possession of a firearm by a felon—carrying a 10-year maximum sentence—and the far more severe charge of using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, which carries a mandatory minimum of 5 years and a potential life sentence.

Inside the courtroom, testimony revealed that on November 4, 2020, Maxwell placed a gun to one victim’s head while demanding property. The robbery unfolded like something from a street thriller: cash, marijuana products, and cell phones were seized at gunpoint. Evidence later tied the stolen goods directly to Harden’s home and to Maxwell’s car parked outside it—linking both men beyond reasonable doubt.

After the jury reached its verdict following four hours of deliberation, U.S. Marshals took Maxwell and Harden into custody immediately. They will remain behind bars as the court prepares a presentence report ahead of sentencing before United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams. No date has been set, but the weight of the charges suggests a lengthy prison term is all but certain.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dillan Edwards and Patrick Reinert, with investigative work led by the Waterloo Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It was brought under Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the Department of Justice’s flagship initiative targeting violent offenders through coordinated federal, state, and local enforcement.

For more details, the public can access court records via the Northern District of Iowa’s electronic filing system at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov. The case file number is 21-CR-2013. Follow updates from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa on Twitter @USAO_NDIA.