United States Drug Enforcement Administration

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - A man who distributed methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl on multiple occasions in 2022 was convicted by a jury after a three-day trial in federal court in Cedar Rapids.

Anthony Harris, age 61, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was convicted of one count of distribution of a controlled substance near a protected location and two counts of distribution of a controlled substance.  The verdict was returned following about two hours of jury deliberations.

The evidence at trial showed that, on three occasions in 2022, law enforcement officers used a confidential informant to buy controlled substances from Harris. On April 13, 2022, Harris distributed methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl to the confidential informant within 1,000 feet of a public secondary school in Cedar Rapids.  On June 1, 2022, Harris distributed heroin to the confidential informant.  Several months later, on September 6, 2022, Harris met the confidential informant at the same location as on June 1 and distributed methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl.  

This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion.  The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad.  Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders.  In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children.  The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States.

HSTF Kansas City is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, covering Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska.  HSTF Kansas City is composed of agents and officers from the Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Drug Enforcement Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, the United States Marshals Service, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the State Investigative Agencies for Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska, and the Kansas City Missouri Police Department.

Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams will be set after a presentence report is prepared.  Harris remains in custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing.  Harris faces a mandatory minimum sentence of one year in prison and a possible maximum sentence of 100 years’ imprisonment, a $6,000,000 fine, and at least six years of supervised release following any imprisonment.

The case was investigated by HSTF Kansas City, with the assistance of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Task Force consisting of the DEA, the Linn County Sheriff's Office, the Cedar Rapids Police Department, the Marion Police Department, and the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Adam J. Vander Stoep and Jennifer Schrauth.