Waterloo Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Possessing a Gun and Drugs

A felon who possessed a firearm and drugs was sentenced today to five years in federal prison.

Carlos Danacio Traywick, age 51, from Waterloo, Iowa, received the prison term after a February 27, 2024 guilty plea to one count of possession of a firearm by a felon and one count of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.

Evidence at the plea and sentencing hearings showed that deputies stopped a car that Traywick was driving in Waterloo on July 16, 2022. During the traffic stop, Traywick removed methamphetamine and marijuana from his pockets. Traywick attempted to run from officers, but he was apprehended after a brief foot chase. In the car that Traywick was driving, deputies located a loaded firearm and cocaine.

Traywick was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand. Traywick was sentenced to 60 months' imprisonment. He must also serve a four-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.

Traywick 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 Black Hawk County Sheriff's Office, Waterloo Police Department, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

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

The case file number is 23-CR-2023.

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