Cedar Rapids Woman Pleads Guilty to Drug-Trafficking Conspiracy

A woman who conspired to distribute methamphetamine pled guilty today in federal court in Cedar Rapids.  Rose Lee Beranek, age 43, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was convicted of conspiring to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine. 

In a plea agreement, Beranek admitted that in February 2024, she obtained nearly two pounds of methamphetamine in Arizona.  She was driving to Cedar Rapids to distribute the methamphetamine, when law enforcement officers pulled over her car in Oklahoma.  Law enforcement officers searched her car and found the methamphetamine in vacuum-sealed bags.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Devra T. Hake and investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Cedar Rapids Police Department, the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, and the Oklahoma District One Narcotics Task Force.  This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation.  OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence‑driven, multi-agency approach.  Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America (https://www.justice.gov/dag/media/1393746/dl?inline) a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.  Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).

Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams will be set after a presentence report is prepared.  Beranek remains in custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing.  Beranek faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, a $10,000,000 fine, and a lifetime term of supervised release following any imprisonment.

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.

The case file number is 25-CR-13.

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