north liberty man guilty of attempting to grow marijuana
911 Call Leads to Discovery of Marijuana Growing Operation
Contact: Peter Deegan
A North Liberty man who grew marijuana inside a house pled guilty on April 20, 2011, in federal court in Cedar Rapids.
Terry Robbins, age 41, from North Liberty, Iowa, was convicted of manufacturing and attempting to manufacture 100 or more marijuana plants during the fall of 2010 after having been convicted of a drug felony offense.
At the plea hearing, Robbins admitted that he was growing more than 100 marijuana plants inside a house on 60th Avenue SW in Cedar Rapids. Robbins had previously been convicted of the crime of cultivating marijuana in Colorado in 1997.
On October 23, 2010, due to a 911 hangup call, police officers went to 60th Avenue SW, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to render assistance. Looking for a residence in the industrial area, officers stopped at property owned by defendant on 60th Avenue SW. While knocking on the front door to determine if someone inside needed assistance, officers noted a strong smell of marijuana coming from the house. After no one answered the door, a search warrant was obtained to look for marijuana. During a search of the residence, officers found numerous items used in the manufacture of marijuana, including 297 marijuana plants and thirty-four 30-gallon trash bags of marijuana waste material from previous marijuana crops.
Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Robbins was taken into custody by the United States Marshal after the guilty plea and will remain in custody pending sentencing. Robbins faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of life imprisonment, an $8,000,000 fine, a $100 special assessment, and at least 8 years and not more than life on supervised release following any imprisonment.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel Tvedt and was investigated by the Cedar Rapids Police Department.
Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is CR 11-14.
