Northeast Iowa Woman Sixth Person to Get Federal Prison in Drug Trafficking Ring
A northeast Iowa woman who bought over a half-dozen firearms for a felon has been sentenced to more than three years in federal prison.
Information from sentencing showed that 28-year-old LaDonna Henderson of Waterloo purchased nine firearms and attempted to buy a tenth firearm in a six-week period in 2023. Investigators say Henderson made false statements about her drug use and the real purchaser of the firearms, which he gave to her then-boyfriend, Christopher Hoover, who was a felon and a cocaine and marijuana user. Hoover then trafficked some of the firearms.
Hoover was later prosecuted for his possession of firearms bought by Henderson and sentenced in September 2024 to 93 months in federal prison.
Four other individuals were also sentenced to prison for their possession of firearms bought by Henderson and related conduct, including Jayquine Steele and Jeremy Phillips, both getting 57 months; Patrelle Green-Bowman -105 months; and Walter Smith – 37 months.
In February 2025, Henderson pleaded guilty to eight counts of false statement during purchase of a firearm and one count of possession of a firearm by an unlawful user of a controlled substance.
On Monday (07.28), she was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams to 37 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release after prison.
Henderson was released on the bond previously set and is to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on a date yet to be set.
The case was investigated by a Federal Task Force composed of the Waterloo Police Department, FBI, and Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, with assistance of the Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office and Cedar Falls Police.
