Dubuque Man To Federal Prison For 30 Years For Distributing Heroin Resulting In Overdose Death

A man who sold heroin to a person who overdosed and died from using the heroin was sentenced today in federal court in Cedar Rapids to serve 30 years in prison.

            Alvin Stanley Briggs, Jr., age 50, from Dubuque, Iowa, pled guilty to distribution of heroin resulting in death.  At the plea hearing, Briggs admitted that on July 3, 2012, he sold $100 worth of heroin to an individual identified as S.R., and that S.R. died as a result of using that heroin.

            Briggs was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade.  Briggs was sentenced to 360 months’ imprisonment.  A special assessment of $100 was imposed.  He must also serve a five-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.

            The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dan Chatham and was investigated by the Platteville, Wisconsin, Police Department, and the Dubuque, Iowa, Drug Task Force. 

            Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.  The case file number is 2:13-CR-01004-LRR.