Source: United States Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF)
A man who possessed multiple machinegun conversion devices on more than one occasion was sentenced on July 18, 2025, to 108 months in federal prison.
Gentile Kahungu, age 19, who was living in Marion, Iowa, received the prison term after a January 31, 2025 guilty plea to possession of a machinegun. The evidence at the sentencing hearing showed that Kahungu possessed a total of 18 machinegun conversion devices, two of which were connected to firearms. On June 25, 2024, Kahungu possessed some of the devices in his bedroom in his home in Marion along with a tan Glock magazine and ammunition. When he was later arrested in Cedar Rapids, he possessed additional machinegun conversion devices, along with a tan Glock firearm that had a machinegun conversion device connected to it. The evidence at the hearing also established that Kahungu’s Glock firearm was used during two other shootings, one in Marshalltown, Iowa, and one in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Kahungu was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams. Kahungu was sentenced to 108 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.
Kahungu is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Nicole L. Nagin, and it was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Marshalltown Police Department, and the Cedar Rapids Police Department.
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.
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file number is 24-CR-00088.
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