Man arrested after February Iowa City shooting incident to be sentenced on federal charge

IOWA CITY - An Iowa City man charged with a federal firearms offense after an Iowa City shooting investigation earlier this year has pleaded guilty and will be sentenced next year.

According to federal court records, Curtis R. Bell, 36, pleaded guilty last month to unlawful transport of a firearm - person in possession of a firearm, a charge that carries a potential 10-year sentence. Bell - who was convicted of felony possession of a controlled substance in 1999 and has a domestic abuse conviction from 2002 - is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 20, according to online court records.

Iowa City police responded to a report of shots fired the evening of Feb. 25 in the area of Hollywood Boulevard and Taylor Drive. Officers found a vehicle hit by multiple bullets and a witness told police they heard six shots.

Another witness identified the shooter as 'Kurt” and directed officers to the apartment where Bell was living. Police said an anonymous called also told police they had previously seen Bell 'with a Nike bag full of guns,” according to a criminal complaint.

Iowa City Area CrimeStoppers tips also connected Bell to the crime.

Police went to Bell's apartment with two K-9 officers and one of the dogs alerted on Bell's apartment. That same day, police said Bell came to the Iowa City police station to speak with an officer about the Feb. 25 shooting. Police said Bell told them he was in a dispute with another man. During that altercation, the other man reached into his waistband, Bell said. Thinking he was going for a gun, Bell pulled a revolver on the other man and fired six times.

When police went to Bell's apartment with him, they recovered the revolver and 26 rounds of ammunition hidden in socks. Authorities also recovered an AR-15 that eventually led them to Casey Lindus, 30, a sex offender convicted of criminal sex abuse involving a girl age 13 or younger in Illinois in 2010.

Lindus pleaded guilty earlier this summer to possession of firearm by a felon, a federal charge that carries a potential 10-year sentence. Lindus is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 13.

l Comments: (319) 398-8238; lee.hermiston@thegazette.com