United States Attorney’s Office

Northern District of Iowa

United States Attorney Stephanie M. Rose

PRESS RELEASE For further information contact:

Bob Teig
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (319) 363-6333
Date: December 3, 2010 Cedar Rapids, Iowa

MOUNT VERNON MARIJUANA USER GUILTY OF GUN AND DRUG CHARGES

Alcohol Use Results in Revocation of Pretrial Release

A man who tried to swallow a baggie of marijuana while being arrested and who
was then found to possess two guns pled guilty today in federal court in Cedar Rapids.

Marc Snively, age 43, from Mount Vernon, Iowa, was convicted of one charge of
being an illegal drug user in possession of firearms and one charge of possession of
marijuana.

According to information filed with the court, Mount Vernon law enforcement
officers went to Snively’s home on January 27, 2010, to arrest him for failure to
maintain control and for leaving the scene of an accident. Snively pulled a small bag of
marijuana from his pocket and put it in his mouth. He refused to spit it out, and an
officer had to use a Taser to get Snively to stop resisting arrest.

Officers obtained a search warrant after seeing marijuana roaches and a beer
can with marijuana on it in Snively’s kitchen. During the search, officers found
marijuana, drug paraphernalia, and two firearms – a 12 gauge shotgun and a .22 pistol.

Federal law prohibits an illegal drug user from possessing a firearm or

ammunition. There is no such prohibition under Iowa law.

Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade will
be set after a presentence report is prepared. Snively was taken into custody after the
guilty plea because he violated his pretrial release conditions by using alcohol. He will
remain in custody pending sentencing. Snively faces a possible maximum sentence of
11 years’ imprisonment, a fine of at least $1,000 and up to $350,000, $125 in special
assessments, and 4 years of supervised release following any imprisonment.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Bob Teig as
part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a cooperative local, state, and federal program
aimed at the enhanced prosecution of gun crimes. The case was investigated by the
Mount Vernon Police Department.

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

The case file number is CR 10-80.

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