Three Individuals Sentenced In Conspiracy To Distribute Marijuana

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA- On May 31, 2013, Dennis Smith, a 28 year-old resident of Council Bluffs, Iowa, was sentenced to 84 months imprisonment for conspiracy to distribute marijuana and money laundering, announced United States Attorney Nicholas A. Klinefeldt. United States District Court Chief Judge James E. Gritzner also ordered Dennis Smith to serve a five-year term of supervised release following incarceration. Dennis Smith pled guilty on February 13, 2013, to the charges of conspiring to distribute marijuana and money laundering in the Omaha, Nebraska, and Council Bluffs, Iowa area.

Nicholas Barnes, a 26 year-old resident of Council Bluffs, Iowa, was sentenced to 48 months imprisonment for conspiracy to distribute marijuana. Chief Judge Gritzner also ordered Barnes to serve a three-year term of supervised release following incarceration. Barnes pled guilty on February 8, 2013, to a charge of conspiring to distribute marijuana in the Omaha, Nebraska, and Council Bluffs, Iowa area.

Gene Smith, a 29 year-old resident of Council Bluffs, Iowa, was sentenced to 41 months imprisonment for maintaining a drug involved premises. Chief Judge Gritzner also ordered Gene Smith to serve a two-year term of supervised release following incarceration. Gene Smith pled guilty on February 8, 2013, to a charge of maintaining a drug-involved premise in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Co-defendant David L. Lopez, Jr., a 40 year-old resident of Omaha, Nebraska, was sentenced April 18, 2013, to 48 months imprisonment for conspiracy to distribute marijuana. Chief Judge Gritzner also ordered Lopez to serve a three-year term of supervised release following incarceration. Lopez pled guilty on February 8, 2013, to a charge of conspiring to distribute marijuana in Omaha, Nebraska, and Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Co-defendant Christopher Brandt, a 30 year-old resident of Council Bluffs, Iowa, was sentenced March 8, 2013, to 36 months imprisonment for conspiracy to distribute marijuana. Chief Judge Gritzner also ordered Brandt to serve a four-year term of supervised release following incarceration. Brandt pled guilty on August 6, 2012, to a charge of conspiring to distribute marijuana in the Omaha, Nebraska, and Council Bluffs, Iowa area.

The convictions were the result of an investigation conducted by several law enforcement agencies into the importation and distribution of marijuana by a known drug trafficking group operating in the Omaha, Nebraska, and Council Bluffs, Iowa area from May of 2009, through March of 2012.

The investigation was conducted by the Council Bluffs, Iowa, Police Department, the Southwest Iowa Narcotics Task Force, Omaha, Nebraska, Police Department, Iowa Division of Narcotic Enforcement, the Pottawattamie County Attorney’s Office, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

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