Marshalltown, Minnesota, and Kansas City Residents Sentenced to Prison for Methamphetamine Offense

 DES MOINES, Iowa — On Wednesday, March 25, 2021, United States District Court Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger sentenced Rachel Ann Danielson, age 42, of St. Paul, Minnesota, to 144 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine announced acting United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal. Following her prison term, Danielson was ordered to serve five years of supervised release, as well as pay $100 to the Crime Victims’ Assistance Fund. At the time Danielson committed the offense, she was serving a term of federal supervised release for a prior drug conviction in the District of North Dakota. Judge Ebinger sentenced Danielson to two years in prison for the violation of supervised release, to be served consecutively to her 144 month sentence.

Danielson was the last individual to be sentenced of the five defendants charged in the methamphetamine conspiracy. In November 2021, Judge Ebinger sentenced Michael Roy Marsh, age 43, of St. Paul, Minnesota, to 150 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine. Judge Ebinger also sentenced Jeremy Travis Beason, age 28, to 240 months of prison, and Tiffany Carol Wagner, age 26, to 96 months of prison, for the same offense. Both Beason and Wagner are from Marshalltown. Following their prison terms, Marsh and Beason were ordered to serve five years of supervised release and Wagner was ordered to serve three years of supervised release. Marsh, Beason, Wagner were also ordered to pay $100 each to the Crime Victims’ Assistance Fund.

In November 2021, Judge Ebinger sentenced Marco Antonio Hernandez Lopez, age 35, of Kansas City, Missouri, who was charged in a separate indictment, to 198 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine. Following his prison term, Hernandez Lopez was ordered to surrender to the custody of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for removal proceedings. Hernandez Lopez was ordered to serve five years of supervised release, as well as pay $100 to the Crime Victims’ Assistance Fund.

The 2019 investigation of this drug conspiracy revealed Hernandez Lopez was supplying Marsh and Danielson with kilogram quantities of methamphetamine for distribution. Hernandez Lopez was receiving this methamphetamine from Mexico. Marsh and Danielson drove to Kansas City to obtain methamphetamine from Hernandez Lopez. Marsh and Danielson met Beason and Wagner on multiple occasions in Iowa to deliver kilogram quantities of methamphetamine. Beason and Wagner distributed the methamphetamine in Marshalltown and elsewhere. In total, Hernandez Lopez is responsible for the distribution of 45 kilograms of methamphetamine.

This matter was investigated by the Mid-Iowa Drug Task Force and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Iowa.