A woman who helped steal 15 firearms from a Waterloo home has been sentenced to more than three years in federal prison.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa, 30-year-old Jena Lea Wells of Silvis, Illinois, was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids to 41 months in prison after pleading guilty to possession of stolen firearms.
Prosecutors say Wells was living in Waterloo in June 2024 when she and her boyfriend stole 15 guns from an unoccupied home in the city. Authorities say Wells acted as a lookout while the firearms were taken and later helped store them at her residence.
During a traffic stop on June 10, Waterloo police found several of the stolen guns in the boyfriend’s backpack. Investigators later recovered additional firearms during searches of Wells’ home.
Wells will also serve three years of supervised release after her prison term. Her boyfriend has pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced May 1.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyndra Lundquist and investigated by a federal task force that included the Waterloo Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, with assistance from the Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office and the Cedar Falls Police Department.
