Coralville Woman Sentenced to Federal Prison After Pleading Guilty to a Drug Trafficking Charge

A Coralville, Iowa, woman who was found in possession of thousands of fentanyl pills was sentenced on August 5, 2025, to seven years in federal prison.

Ashley Crystal Wachs, age 36, from Coralville, Iowa, received the prison term after pleading guilty to Possession with Intent to Distribute Controlled Substances on February 19, 2025.  

In a plea agreement, Wachs admitted that she was responsible for the transportation of thousands of fentanyl pills from Seattle, Washington, into Coralville and the surrounding areas, where she distributed the fentanyl pills.  The evidence at the guilty plea established that on September 4, 2024, officers with the Iowa State Patrol and Johnson County Drug Task Force conducted a traffic stop on Ms. Wachs’ vehicle and seized over 250 grams of fentanyl, 109.58 grams of flurofentanyl, and 71.96 grams of ice methamphetamine.  During the guilty plea, Ms. Wachs admitted she intended to distribute most of the controlled substances seized from her vehicle.  

Wachs was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams.  Wachs was sentenced to 72 months’ imprisonment.  She must also serve a 3-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.

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

The case was prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Jared Manternach and investigated by the Johnson County Drug Task Force and Iowa State Patrol.  

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

The case file number is 24-CR-98.

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