Couple Convicted Of Crack Cocaine Conspiracy

A Hartley couple involved in distributing crack cocaine pled guilty on November 29, 2010, in federal court in Sioux City.

Blair Burrell, 25, and Shanta Brown, 24, both from Hartley, Iowa, were convicted of conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine. Burrell and Brown were also convicted of two counts of distributing and aiding and abetting the distribution of crack cocaine.

At their plea hearings, Burrell and Brown admitted they conspired to distribute more than 200 grams of crack cocaine in the Sioux City and Hartley areas from October 2009 through March 2010. Burrell admitted he distributed crack cocaine to an undercover law enforcement officer within 1,000 feet of Hartley Melvin Sanborn Community School on December 1, 2009. Brown admitted she distributed crack cocaine to an undercover law enforcement officer within 1,000 feet of Chris Larson Park in Sioux City on May 7, 2010. Both admitted distributing and aiding and abetting each other in distributing crack cocaine on February 18, 2010, to an undercover law enforcement officer.

Sentencings before United States District Court Judge Mark W. Bennett will be set after presentence reports are prepared. Burrell and Brown were taken into custody by the United States Marshal after the guilty pleas and will remain in custody pending sentencing. On the conspiracy conviction and one of the distribution convictions, Burrell and Brown each face a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of 40 years’ imprisonment, a $2,000,000 fine, $200 in special assessments, and 4 years up to life of supervised release following any imprisonment. On the third conviction, Burrell faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 1 year imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of 40 years’ imprisonment, a $2,000,000 fine, a special assessment of $100, and a term of supervised release of 6 years up to life. On Brown’s third conviction, she faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of 80 years’ imprisonment, a $4,000,000 fine, a special assessment of $100, and a term of supervised release of 8 years up to life.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Shawn S. Wehde and was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation; and the Spirit Lake Police Department.

Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is 10-4058.

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