A Sioux City man who was stopped with a semiautomatic rifle, a handgun-style BB gun, methamphetamine, and marijuana has been sentenced to 9 years in federal prison.
Jo’Mario Smith, age 35, from Sioux City, Iowa, received the prison term after a September 15, 2022, change of plea hearing.
Evidence in the case revealed Smith was unlawfully in possession of the firearm and ammunition on March 11, 2022. Smith’s criminal possession was discovered during a traffic stop for several violations. Smith was the operator and sole occupant of the vehicle. Upon officer’s contact with Smith, the odor of marijuana was emitting from the vehicle and a K-9 positively indicated for illegal narcotics as well.
During a search of the vehicle, officers located a semiautomatic rifle on the driver’s floorboard, near Smith’s feet, that had been spray painted to look like a toy. The barrel and stock had also been shortened. The rifle had a 25-round banana-style high-capacity magazine fully seated with a round chambered. The magazine contained 11 additional rounds. Officers also located a handgun-style BB gun, 4 separate plastic bags containing illegal drugs, and a live shotgun shell. Two of the four plastic bags contained a total of, roughly, 3.8 grams of crystalline substance, each of which field tested positive as methamphetamine. The two other bags contained 31.82 grams of methamphetamine and 33.99 grams of methamphetamine, respectively. Additionally, officers located a plastic bag containing roughly 3.5 grams of marijuana.
Smith has a lengthy criminal history beginning at the age of 17. His crimes include theft, domestic abuse/battery, resisting arrest, weapons, drugs, armed robbery/burglary, violence, and other dangerous conduct.
Smith was sentenced in Sioux City by United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand to 108 months’ imprisonment. He must also serve a 3-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN). PSN is the centerpiece of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them.
Smith is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.
The case was investigated by the Sioux City, Iowa Police Department and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Forde Fairchild.
Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is 22-04034.
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Key Facts
- State: Iowa
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Violent Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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