Illinois Felon Who Distributed Fentanyl and Possessed a Firearm Sentenced to Federal Prison

A man who sold fentanyl and possessed a gun in Dubuque, Iowa, was sentenced on November 19, 2025, to 77 months in federal prison.  Friday Deel Gardner, age 28, from Markham, Illinois, received the prison term after a June 5, 2025, guilty plea to distribution of a controlled substance near a school or park and possessing a firearm as a felon.

Evidence at the sentencing hearing showed that Gardner sold fentanyl on four occasions, three times while near a school or park.  Law enforcement officers then searched where Gardner stayed in Dubuque and located over 275 fentanyl pills, ecstasy pills, marijuana, United States currency, and a stolen firearm.  

Gardner was previously convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm in 2017 in federal court.  The district court sentenced him to 41 months imprisonment and three years of supervised release.  While he was on supervised release in 2021 and 2022, the district court found Gardner had violated his conditions of release twice and returned him to federal prison.

Gardner was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams.  Gardner was sentenced to 77 months imprisonment.  He must also serve a six-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.

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

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. 

On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America 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.

The case was prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Michael S.A. Hudson and investigated by The Dubuque Drug Task Force, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  

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

The case file number is 25-CR-1006.

Follow us on X @USAO_NDIA.