An Arizona man who led a million dollar Waterloo methamphetamine conspiracy pled guilty on February 16, 2010, in federal court in Cedar Rapids.

Joel Beltran, 37, from Avondale, Arizona, was convicted of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and conspiracy to launder money.

In his plea, Beltran admitted he conspired with others to distribute methamphetamine in the Waterloo area from about January 2005 through about August 21, 2009. In earlier hearings, officers detailed Beltran’s statements upon arrest that he had sold 300-500 pounds of methamphetamine and laundered over $1,000,000. Beltran also admitted he has a prior felony drug conviction.

Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Beltran remains in custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing. Beltran faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years’ and up to life imprisonment, an $8,000,000 fine, a $100 special assessment, and at least 10 years to life of supervised release following any imprisonment.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Patrick J. Reinert and was investigated by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program of the United States Department of Justice through a cooperative effort of the Tri-County Drug Task Force, Cedar Rapids DEA Task Force, United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Internal Revenue Service, and Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Tri-County Drug Task Force is composed of the Waterloo Police Department, Cedar Falls Police Department, Waverly Police Department, Bremer County Sheriff’s Office, Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office, LaPorte City Police Department, Evansdale Police Department, Hudson Police Department, and Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Cedar Rapids Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Task Force consists of the DEA; Linn County Sheriff's Office; Cedar Rapids Police Department; Marion Police Department; Iowa City Police Department; Clinton Police Department; Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; Sixth Judicial District Department of Correctional Services; and Iowa National Guard.
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Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is 09cr2023.

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