712 Digital Group - top

3 Bluffs men sentenced on drug charges last week

News

June 3rd, 2013 by Ric Hanson

Three Council Bluffs men have been sentenced to prison on drug charges. The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa says 28-year old Dennis Smith, 26-year old Nicholas Barnes, and 29-year old Gene Smith, all of Council Bluffs, received their sentences Friday in Council Bluffs by U-S District Court Judge James E. Gritzner. Smith was sentenced to 84 months imprisonment for conspiracy to distribute marijuana and money laundering. He was also ordered to serve a five-year term of supervised release following incarceration. Smith pled guilty on February 13th, 2013, to charges of conspiring to distribute marijuana and money laundering in the Omaha andCouncil Bluffs areas.

Barnes was sentenced to 48 months imprisonment for conspiracy to distribute marijuana. The judge also ordered Barnes to serve a three-year term of supervised release following incarceration. Barnes pled guilty on February 8th, 2013, to a charge of conspiring to distribute marijuana in the Omaha and Council Bluffs areas. Gene Smith was sentenced to 41 months imprisonment for maintaining a drug involved premises. He was also ordered to serve a two-year term of supervised release following incarceration. Gene Smith pled guilty on February 8th, 2013, to a charge of maintaining a drug-involved premise in  Council Bluffs.

Co-defendant David L. Lopez, Jr., a 40 year-old resident of Omaha, was sentenced April 18th, 2013, to 48 months imprisonment for conspiracy to distribute marijuana. Lopez must also 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 and Council Bluffs. Co-defendant Christopher Brandt, a 30 year-old resident of Council Bluffs, was sentenced March 8, 2013, to 36 months imprisonment for conspiracy to distribute marijuana. Brandt is also required 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 Omaha and Council Bluffs.

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/Council Bluffs area from May of 2009, through March of 2012. The investigation was conducted by the Council Bluffs Police Department, the Southwest Iowa Narcotics Task Force, Omaha Police Department, Iowa Division of Narcotic Enforcement, the Pottawattamie County Attorney’s Office, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The IRS’ Criminal Investigation Division also contributed to the money laundering part of the investigation. The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.