Heroin Sale Near Truck Stop Results in Prison Sentence

 Previously Convicted of a Felony Drug Offense

A man who distributed heroin near a truck stop was sentenced today to more than three years in federal prison.

Orlando Wash, age 30, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received the prison term after a May 21, 2020 guilty plea to one count of distribution of heroin near a truck stop after having been previously convicted of a felony drug offense.

At the guilty plea and sentencing hearings, information showed that Wash sold heroin in the Cedar Rapids area from 2016 through 2019.  Specifically on November 8, 2018, Wash sold heroin to an individual working for the Cedar Rapids Police Department near a truck stop located near I-380 in Cedar Rapids. Wash admitted he was responsible for possessing of a firearm during the period he was selling heroin.

Wash was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams.  Wash was sentenced to 41 months’ imprisonment.  He must also serve a six-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.

Wash is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Patrick Reinert and investigated as part of the Northern Iowa Heroin Initiative and the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program of the United States Department of Justice by Cedar Rapids Safe Streets Task Force.  The task force is composed of representatives from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Cedar Rapids Police Department.   Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.  The case file number is 19-CR-00127.  Follow us on Twitter @USAO_NDIA.