The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports that on Tuesday, November 7th, 2017, United States Senior District Court Judge James E. Gritzner sentenced 30-year old Charles Jesse Beuterbaugh, of Pottawattamie County, to 20 years in prison for conspiracy to distribute a fentanyl analogue that caused death or serious bodily injury. Beuterbaugh will serve five years of supervised release following imprisonment and pay $100 to the Crime Victims’ Fund. Beuterbaugh was part of a drug trafficking organization that was responsible for receiving and distributing fentanyl analogues obtained from a source in China to users in western Iowa and eastern Nebraska.

The investigation into the drug trafficking group began on June 28, 2015, when law enforcement was called to a Carter Lake residence regarding an unresponsive male. Law enforcement found the body of a 20-year-old male in Beuterbaugh’s living area. In addition, law enforcement learned that a second male had been transported to a local hospital from the Beuterbaugh residence prior to law enforcement being called, and had been placed on life support. The investigation revealed that Beuterbaugh had provided “acetyl fentanyl” to both victims, which was determined to be the cause of death of the 20-year-old male, and the reason for the hospitalization for the second male. Beuterbaugh had obtained the acetyl fentanyl through an organization that began distributing fentanyl, or an analogue of fentanyl, in November of 2014 and continued to distribute in April of 2016. All members involved in the distribution of the acetyl fentanyl have entered guilty pleas.

On October 26, 2017, Senior Judge James E. Gritzner sentenced Beuterbaughs’ codefendants, 27-year old Dustin C. Sullivan, of Council Bluffs, to 162 months in prison, and 31-year old Cody Lanus, of Omaha, Nebraska, to 144 months in prison. Both Sullivan and Lanus were also ordered to serve five years of supervised release following imprisonment. Michael David Redmond, Jr. was previously sentenced by Senior Judge James E. Gritzner to 120 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Redmond, Jr., Sullivan, and Lanus were also ordered to pay $100 to the Crime Victims’ Fund. Amalia N. Pandis and Walter John O’Donohue, III are pending sentencing in February of 2018.

The investigation was conducted by the Carter Lake Police Department, the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office, the Council Bluffs Police Department, the Southwest Iowa Narcotics Task Force, the Omaha, Nebraska, Police Department, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the Iowa Division of Narcotic Enforcement, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the Drug Enforcement Administration in Nebraska. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.