Source: US FBI
A man who robbed an individual who was selling drugs was sentenced today to more than 11 years in federal prison.
Dequan Autrell Jenkins, age 27, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received the prison term after a February 26, 2025 guilty plea to one count of interference with commerce by robbery, one count of possession of a firearm by a felon, and one count of using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of, a crime of violence.
On June 24, 2024, Jenkins and another person met with an individual in Cedar Rapids to purchase fentanyl. During the transaction, Jenkins pulled out a firearm and robbed the individual of the fentanyl and the individual’s backpack. Jenkins was prohibited from possessing firearms based on prior felony convictions.
Jenkins was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams. Jenkins was sentenced to 141 months’ imprisonment. He must also serve a five-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
Jenkins is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.
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.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Adam J. Vander Stoep and was investigated by the Cedar Rapids Safe Streets Task Force. The task force is composed of representatives from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Cedar Rapids Police Department, and the Marion Police Department.
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file number is 24-CR-93.
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