19-year-old sentenced to five years for illegally having gun as felon

CEDAR RAPIDS - A 19-year-old Cedar Rapids man was sentenced to five years in federal prison for illegally having a gun as a felon.

Untario D. McGhee, also know as 'Memphis” and 'Tario Nolove,” originally from Memphis, Tenn., pleaded in U.S. District Court in January to one count of possession of a firearm by a felon for the fourth time within just over two years and while on probation in state court.

Evidence presented during the plea hearing and sentencing showed Cedar Rapids police attempted to arrest McGhee on a probation warrant on April 10, 2019. As officers neared McGhee's car, he locked the car's doors, and officers saw a firearm in his right hand.

McGhee was ordered to raise his hands. He lowered his right hand and when it was raised again, it was empty, according to evidence. Officers pulled McGhee from the vehicle and found a loaded stolen handgun.

At the time, McGhee was on probation in state court after being convicted of possessing a loaded stolen firearm as a felon in November 2018, according to court documents.

McGhee also had been arrested for carrying firearms illegally in February 2017 and June 2018. His other criminal history included arrests for possessing marijuana with intent to deliver, disorderly conduct, providing false identification information and assault.

U.S. District Judge C.J. Williams sentenced McGhee to five years and also ordered him to serve supervised release for three years after prison.

McGhee will be in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service until he is assigned to a federal prison.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Vavricek and investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Cedar Rapids Police Department.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, which is the centerpiece of the U.S. Department of Justice's violent crime reduction efforts.

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