Waterloo Man to Federal Prison for Possessing Stolen Firearm

A man who had a stolen firearm in his waistband and resisted arrest was sentenced on November 3, 2026, to more than five years in federal prison.

Da’Tellyon Dawon Nix, age 19, from Waterloo, Iowa, received the prison term after a June 24, 2026, guilty plea to possession of a firearm by a felon.

Information from the plea and sentencing hearings showed that Nix was previously convicted of a felony crime of violence, intimidation with a dangerous weapon, which involved him firing a gun at multiple people.  On January 28, 2026, law enforcement officers had information that Nix was in possession of a gun.  There was also a valid warrant for Nix’s arrest for probation violations.  Officers followed Nix as he left a Chuck E. Cheese in Cedar Falls and subsequently pulled over the car he was in.  Nix attempted to flee and was ultimately tased by an officer at which time he admitted that there was a firearm in his waistband.  The firearm had previously been stolen from a federal firearms licensee.    

Nix was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand.  Nix was sentenced to 70 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.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.

Nix 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 Kyndra Lundquist and investigated by Federal Task Force composed of the Waterloo Police Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms assisted by the Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office and Cedar Falls Police Department.  

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. 

The case file number is 26-CR-2009.

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