laPorte city man plead guilty to distribution of marijuana
Contact: Peter Deegan
A man pled guilty September 23, 2010, in federal court in Cedar Rapids.
William Fratzke, Sr., 63 from LaPorte City, Iowa, was convicted of conspiracy to distribute marijuana.
At the plea hearing, Fratzke admitted he conspired to distribute marijuana from 2005 through 2009. Fratzke also agreed to forfeit $30,000 in cash and his truck as part of his plea.
Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Fratzke remains free on bond previously set pending sentencing. Fratzke faces not more than 5 years imprisonment without the possibility of parole, a $250,000 fine, $100 special assessment, and at least two years of supervised release following any imprisonment.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Anthony R. Morfitt and was investigated by Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program of the United States Department of Justice through a cooperative effort of the Oelwein Police Department, 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.
Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is 10cr2038.
