Lang
8/4/24
A felon convicted on weapons charges is back behind bars after absconding from Hope House over seven years ago.
31-year-old Kevin Jefferson was booked into the Johnson County Jail just after 3:00 Friday afternoon. Hope House officials say Jefferson walked off the smoking patio of the Holiday Road facility on the night of June 23rd, 2017 and never returned.
Jefferson was given a five-year suspended sentence and remanded to Hope House after pleading guilty to a charge of Dominion or Control of a Firearm as a Felon. Iowa City Police arrested him on an outstanding warrant in December of 2015 near the intersection of Douglass Street and Douglass Court. Jefferson was found in possession of a .45 caliber Hi-Point semiautomatic handgun despite being a convicted felon out of Illinois.
Jefferson now faces a new charge of Escape of a Felon. If convicted, he faces a maximum of five years in prison. The original weapons charge also carries a five-year maximum prison sentence.