Cedar Rapids man gets more than three years in federal prison for carrying stolen gun in rideshare car

A Cedar Rapids man who was convicted as a teenager in a fatal 2020 shooting was sentenced this week to more than three years in federal prison after authorities found him carrying a stolen handgun while riding in a rideshare car.

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Marshawn Ladarius Jeffries, 22, was sentenced Dec. 29 to 42 months in federal prison after pleading guilty in August to being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa. He also was sentenced to three years of supervised release after completing his prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.

Authorities said Jeffries was a passenger in a rideshare vehicle Feb. 28, 2025, when the driver was pulled over in Cedar Rapids for a nonworking taillight. Officers reported smelling marijuana and asked Jeffries to step out of the vehicle. During a pat-down, officers found a 9 mm pistol with a high-capacity magazine tucked into Jeffries’ waistband. The firearm had been reported stolen.

Jeffries was prohibited from possessing firearms because of prior felony convictions.

At sentencing, Chief U.S. District Judge C.J. Williams said Jeffries’ record showed repeated involvement with guns and described him as a real and present danger to the community, according to the release.

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The federal case followed earlier state charges stemming from the same February traffic stop, which were dismissed after Jeffries was indicted in federal court.

Jeffries’ criminal history includes a 2022 Linn County conviction for intimidation with a dangerous weapon and obstruction of justice for his role in the fatal shooting of University of Iowa student Malik Sheets during a house party in June 2020.

Jeffries, who was 16 at the time, admitted to threatening to shoot into a group during a fight. Sheets was killed by another teenager involved in the altercation. Jeffries received a reduced sentence because of his age and served about a year in prison before being released on parole in April 2024.

Federal prosecutors also cited a separate incident earlier in February of this year, when Jeffries led officers on a high-speed chase before crashing his vehicle into an apartment building wall.

Jeffries is being held in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service until he is transferred to a federal prison, the release said. The case was investigated by federal and state law enforcement agencies and prosecuted as part of the Justice Department’s Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative, aimed at reducing violent crime and gun violence.

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