Jury Convicts Sioux City Man of Interstate Stalking and Using a Firearm During the Offense

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Aman who stalked his estranged wife and transported her from South Sioux CityNebraska to Sioux City, Iowa was convicted by a jury on November 30, 2012,after a 5– day trial in federal court in Sioux City.
RalphRogers, age, 24 from Sioux City, was convicted of interstate stalking and usinga firearm during the offense. The verdict was returned following about sevenhours of jury deliberations. On September 7, 2012, defendant pled guilty to twoother crimes: (1) being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition and(2) failing appear after pre–trial release. The jury acquitted Rogers of thecrimes of kidnaping and possession of a firearm in furtherance of thekidnaping.
Evidencepresented at trial and plea hearing showed the following. On December 5, 2012,Rogers was tracking his estranged wife’s movements with a GPS application thathe had secretly placed on her car while she was at work. When her car came to astop at her new residence, Rogers armed himself with a hand gun, drove fromIowa to Nebraska, entered her home without permission, punched, kicked, andpistol–whipped one of the three people in the house at the time, andtransported her to Roger’s home in Iowa.
Sentencingbefore United States District Court Judge Donald E. O’Brien will be set after apresentence report is prepared. Rogers remains in custody of the United StatesMarshal pending sentencing. Rogers faces a possible maximum sentence of 30years’ imprisonment, a $650,000 fine, $300 in special assessments, and 3 yearsof supervised release following any imprisonment.
Courtfile information is available athttps://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is11–4022.
Thiscase is being prosecuted as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a cooperativelocal, state, and federal program aimed at the enhanced prosecution of guncrimes. The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms,and Explosives, the Dakota County, Nebraska, Sheriff’s Office, and the SiouxCity, Iowa, Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant UnitedStates Attorney Forde Fairchild.