A Waterloo sex offender with a rap sheet as long as a rap sheet gets was sentenced to eight years in federal prison May 13, 2019, for possessing a sawed-off shotgun — a weapon found in his SUV after a white-knuckle, high-speed chase that ended in a garage, a crash, and a bloody nose from a clothesline. Nicholas Allen Gilstrap, 27, of Waterloo, Iowa, didn’t just break the law — he plowed through it.
Gilstrap pleaded guilty October 18, 2018, to one count of possession of an unregistered National Firearms Act device. The charge stemmed from the early morning hours of May 4, 2018, when Waterloo police spotted Gilstrap driving a stolen SUV — a fugitive on the run with a suspended license. Instead of stopping, he gunned it, leading officers on a reckless pursuit through city streets before slamming into a private garage. The impact destroyed the garage, totaled a car inside, and mangled the SUV. Gilstrap bailed and vanished into the night.
Inside the wrecked vehicle, officers found the smoking gun — literally. A loaded sawed-off shotgun, chambered with a live slug, lay in plain sight. Also recovered: trazodone hydrochloride pills, and multiple debit cards belonging to people who weren’t Gilstrap. The man had no business owning a firearm, much less a chopped-down, concealable shotgun with a violent edge.
He was arrested six days later, May 10, at a Waterloo residence. When police knocked, Gilstrap bolted out the back — only to faceplant into a clothesline, splitting the bridge of his nose and sealing his capture. The image says it all: a criminal running from justice, brought down by laundry. Gilstrap is a registered sex offender with prior convictions for OWI, burglary, public intoxication, and repeatedly failing to check in with authorities as required by law.
In federal court in Cedar Rapids, U.S. District Judge C.J. Williams handed down a 96-month sentence with no chance of parole — the federal system doesn’t allow it. Gilstrap must also serve three years of supervised release and pay $32,540.44 in restitution to the garage owner, SUV owner, and the insurance company that covered part of the damages. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Vavricek and investigated by the Waterloo Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
The conviction was part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the DOJ’s violent crime crackdown strategy that targets the most dangerous offenders. Gilstrap fits the profile: armed, violent, repeat offender, and flagrantly disregarding the law. He remains in U.S. Marshals custody pending transfer to federal prison. Court records are available under case file 18-CR-2051 at the Northern District of Iowa’s electronic filing system. Follow updates from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa @USAO_NDIA.
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