Benton County Man To Federal Prison For Selling Meth

A man who sold “ice” methamphetamine from his rural Benton County home was sentenced on January 30, 2014 to just under four years in federal prison.

Kenneth Gragg, 54, from Garrison, Iowa, received the prison term after a December 2, 2013 guilty plea to possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm as an unlawful drug user.

In a plea agreement, Gragg admitted he sold methamphetamine to a confidential informant on two occasions in late 2012.  A search warrant was executed on Gragg’s home in January 2013.  During the search, officers seized additional quantities of methamphetamine, which Gragg admitted he had intended to distribute to others.  A shotgun was also seized from Gragg’s residence.  Gragg could not legally possess the firearm because he was an unlawful user of both methamphetamine and marijuana.

Gragg was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade.  Gragg was sentenced to 46 months’ imprisonment and fined $5,000.  A special assessment of $200 was imposed.  Gragg must also serve a 3-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.

Gragg is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Justin Lightfoot and investigated by the Rural Area Interdiction Detail (“RAID”) Task Force with assistance from the Tama County Sheriff’s Office.  The RAID Task Force is comprised of officers from the Benton County Sheriff’s Office and Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office.

Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/ cgi-bin/login.pl.  The case file number is 13-CR-59.