The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports 35-year old Deandre Eugene Cooper, and 30-year old Charles Jesse Beuterbaugh, were sentenced in United States District Court Wednesday, for Possession of Contraband by a Federal Prisoner. The sentencing was handed down in Council Bluffs.

Cooper was sentenced to 100 months imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release. Beuterbaugh was sentenced to serve eight months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. Their sentences were each ordered to be served consecutively with sentences they previously received in other matters prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Offices for the Southern District of Iowa and the District of Nebraska.

Cooper and Beuterbaugh, along with other co-defendants, while incarcerated at the Pottawattamie County Jail, distributed K-2, a synthetic cannabinoid. On May 17, 2017, corrections staff seized the substance from co-defendant Ivan Cervantes’ cell with the use of a drug detecting dog. Lab reports confirmed the substance found hidden in Cervantes’ cell was a synthetic cannabinoid. Further investigation revealed Cooper and Beuterbaugh had distributed K-2 to other inmates.

The case was investigated by the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement and the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.