Man Who Attempted to Flush Heroin Down Cedar Rapids Police Department Toilet Pleads Guilty

A man who tried to discard his heroin in a toilet at the Cedar Rapids Police Department pled guilty today in federal court in Cedar Rapids.

Julius Montgomery, Jr., age 48, from Chicago, IL, was convicted of possession with intent to distribute heroin.

In a plea agreement, Montgomery admitted that the DEA conducted a controlled buy of heroin from a Toyota Echo in which Montgomery was a passenger on November 10, 2015.  The Echo was subsequently stopped and searched for drugs.  An officer at the scene noticed Montgomery was standing with his buttocks clenched tightly, but defendant denied he was concealing anything.  Montgomery was transported to the CRPD for questioning, and later asked to use a bathroom.  Investigators offered a bathroom for defendant to use, but the bathroom offered to defendant was equipped with a toilet designed for prisoners.  The toilet cannot be flushed by the prisoner inside the room, and can only be flushed from an exterior location.  Prior to Montgomery using the bathroom, investigators searched the toilet and noted it was empty.  After Montgomery finished in the bathroom, investigators entered and found a bag in the toilet water.  The bag contained 23 individual packages of heroin, totaling 2.1 grams.  Montgomery also admitted in the plea agreement to selling heroin to confidential informants twice in 2014.

Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade will be set after a presentence report is prepared.  Montgomery remains in custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing.  Montgomery faces a possible maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment, a $1,000,000 fine, $100 in special assessments, and a lifetime of supervised release following any imprisonment.

The case was investigated as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program of the United States Department of Justice through a cooperative effort of the Cedar Rapids Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Task Force consisting of the DEA; the Cedar Rapids Police Department; the Linn County Sheriff's Office; the Marion Police Department; the Iowa City Police Department; and the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dan Chatham. 

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

The case file number is 16-CR-12-LRR.

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