Waterloo Opioid Dealer Sent Back to Federal Prison for Twenty Years

A Waterloo man that distributed fentanyl and heroin was sentenced April 12, 2023, to twenty years in federal prison.

Damien L. Cobbins, age 43, from Waterloo, Iowa, received the prison term after a November 30, 2022 guilty plea to one count of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance after a prior conviction for a serious drug felony.          

In a plea agreement, Cobbins admitted that on May 10, 2022, and May 17, 2022, he distributed fentanyl to another person in Waterloo.  On May 19, 2022, law enforcement stopped Cobbins’s vehicle, and they recovered over $2,200 from Cobbins, which Cobbins admitted were proceeds from the sale of fentanyl and heroin.  Cobbins continued to distribute fentanyl and heroin.  On August 18, 2022, law enforcement again stopped Cobbins’s vehicle, and they recovered over $2,700, which Cobbins admitted were proceeds from the sale of fentanyl and heroin.  Cobbins was arrested and, during a search at the Waterloo Police Department, officers seized over 60 grams of a fentanyl, heroin, and metonitazene mixture from Cobbins’s person. 

Information disclosed at sentencing showed that Cobbins had four previous convictions for distributing controlled substances, including a prior federal conviction in the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin. 

Cobbins was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand.  Cobbins was sentenced to 240 months’ imprisonment, and he must also serve an eight‑year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.

Cobbins 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 Dillan Edwards and investigated by the Tri-County Drug Enforcement Task Force consisting of the Waterloo Police Department, Cedar Falls Police Department, Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Department, Evansdale Police Department, Waverly Police Department, Hudson Police Department, La Porte City Police Department, and the Bremer County Sheriff’s Department. 

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

The case file number is 22-CR-02048-LTS.

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