DRUG COURIER SENTENCED TO 87 MONTHS IN FEDERAL PRISON
Contact: Peter Deegan
A man who repeatedly transported cocaine from Denver, Colorado, into the Cedar Falls and Waterloo, Iowa area was sentenced on April 27, 2011, to 87 months in federal prison.
Lucio Andazola-Fimbres, 40, from Milan, Missouri, received the prison term after a December 16, 2010 guilty plea to distributing cocaine and conspiring to distribute cocaine.
At the sentencing hearing, Andazola-Fimbres admitted that he had made at least seven or eight trips to Iowa over the course of the year, bringing anywhere from 2 to 4 kilograms of cocaine on each trip. The cocaine was hidden in compartments inside of his vehicle, and was delivered to Mark Hopper and Robert Dale. Hopper and Dale, who have each already been sentenced, would cook the cocaine into crack cocaine and sell it in the Waterloo area.
Andazola-Fimbres was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade. Andazola-Fimbres was sentenced to 87 months’ imprisonment on each count, with both sentences to run concurrently. Andazola-Fimbres was required to pay a special assessment of $200 and must serve a 5-year term of supervised release after his prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
Andazola-Fimbres is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.
The case was prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Justin Lightfoot and investigated by the 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, Homeland Security Investigations, 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 CR 10-2040. The case file number for Mark Hopper and Robert Dale is CR 10-2039.
