Kelsey Leroy Beckett, Possessing Stolen Firearms, Iowa 2019

A Cedar Rapids man was sentenced to over 12 years in federal prison after possessing stolen firearms during a high-speed car chase on Election Day in 2016.

Kelsey Leroy Beckett, 24, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received the prison term after pleading guilty to one count of possessing a firearm as a felon, one count of escape, and one count of assault with a dangerous and deadly weapon on January 7, 2019.

On November 8, 2016, Beckett led law enforcement officers on a high-speed car chase through highly populated parts of Cedar Rapids and Hiawatha, Iowa. During the chase, Beckett drove through the lawns of residences and the parking lot of a daycare center, and struck a skid loader and a parked car. The car Beckett was driving caught on fire in the process.

Beckett attempted to run over a United States Marshal's Service (USMS) task force officer three times, who had his service firearm drawn and his badge displayed. The officer had to yell at Beckett to shoot him, but another officer intervened and stopped Beckett from harming the officer further. Beckett then tried to flee on foot, but was stopped by a K-9 officer's dog. The dog bit Beckett in self-defense, as it was the first time the dog had to bite a suspect to preserve its own life.

Beckett had previously served 30 months in federal prison after possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number in 2013. At the time of the chase, Beckett was a fugitive from a residential reentry center and had two loaded, stolen firearms in his car. One of the firearms, a Glock 40-caliber pistol, was in plain view on the driver's side floorboard of the car, with an extended 22-round Glock magazine that was full, including one round in the chamber.

Court documents show that Beckett has a long history of assaultive behavior, including beating up a female college student in 2009, striking a shelter staff member in the head several times with his elbow in 2009, and being convicted of assault causing bodily injury in 2012 after fighting with loss prevention officers in a department store.

Beckett was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams to 151 months' imprisonment. He was also ordered to make over $8,000 in restitution to the USMS for totaling one of their vehicles during the chase. Beckett must also serve a 3-year term of supervised release after the prison term.

Beckett's sentence follows a 24-month sentence he began serving in 2016 for violating his supervised release in his 2013 federal firearms case. Earlier this month, a local woman, Saudia Raquel Watkins, who provided Beckett with a car ride and smoked marijuana with him while he was on the lam, was sentenced to 3 months' imprisonment after pleading guilty to one count of misprision of a felony.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndia/pr/cedar-rapids-felon-sentenced-more-12-years-federal-prison-after-possessing-stolen