CEDAR RAPIDS -- An Elk Run Heights woman has been sentenced to prison in connection with guns found in a truck in July 2007.

Authorities detained Tamara Jolene Miller, 40, and two others on property near Wadena after a resident caught them in a driveway trying to take tractor tires, court records state.

Prosecutors allege Miller reached for a gun when the resident confronted them.

Inside the vehicle, officers found a .25-caliber Lorcin handgun and an illegally shortened sawed-off New England 20-gage shotgun. Both weapons had obliterated serial numbers.

Miller was barred from handling firearms because of a 1988 theft conviction, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Cole.

Miller went to trial on the weapons charges in February, and a jury found her guilty of possession of an unregistered sawed-off shotgun, possession of firearms with serial numbers removed and possession of firearms by a felon.

Judge Linda Reade sentenced Miller to 10 years in prison to be followed by three years supervised release. She was also ordered to pay a $17,500 fine and a $300 special assessment.

She was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids.

Contact Jeff Reinitz at

(319) 291-1578 or

jeff.reinitz@wcfcourier.com.