ESTHERVILLE WOMAN PLEADS GUILTY TO METH CONSPIRACY
Contact: Peter Deegan
A woman who had prior drug convictions and then conspired to distribute methamphetamine pled guilty on March 18, 2011, in federal court in Sioux City.
Cynthia Koons, 50, from Estherville, Iowa, was convicted of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Koons was previously convicted of two felony drug offenses: possession of marijuana with intent to deliver in September 2001 and failure to affix drug tax stamp in August 1998.
At the plea hearing, Koons admitted she conspired to distribute more than six pounds of methamphetamine from 2002 through April 2010 in the Emmet, Dickinson, and Cherokee County areas.
Sentencing before United States District Court Judge Mark W. Bennett will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Koons was taken into custody by the United States Marshal after the guilty plea and will remain in custody pending sentencing. Koons faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of life imprisonment, a $20,000,000 fine, a special assessment of $100, and 10 years up to life of supervised release following any imprisonment.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Shawn S. Wehde and was investigated by the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, Iowa State Patrol, Cherokee Police Department, Denison Police Department, Estherville Police Department, Spirit Lake Police Department, Emmet County Sheriff’s Office, Palo Alto County Sheriff’s Office, Dickenson County Sheriff’s Office, Crawford County Sheriff’s Office, and Clay County Sheriff’s Office.
Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is CR10-3048.
