Source: United States Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF)
A man who conspired to distribute fentanyl pills was sentenced today to 14 years in federal prison. Jaylon William Throgmartin, age 22, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received the prison term after a guilty plea to conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance.
In a plea agreement and at the sentencing hearing, evidence showed that Throgmartin distributed thousands of fentanyl pills between December 2023 and October 2024. Throgmartin also facilitated the sale of a firearm in exchange for fentanyl pills. In January 2025, he distributed at least one fentanyl pill to someone who overdosed. The victim recovered after receiving Narcan.
Throgmartin was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams. Throgmartin was sentenced to 168 months’ imprisonment and must also serve a four-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Devra T. Hake and was 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 through a cooperative effort of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Cedar Rapids Police Department, the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, and the Iowa Division of Intelligence and Fusion Center. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence‑driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America (https://www.justice.gov/dag/media/1393746/dl?inline) a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).
Throgmartin is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file number is 25-CR-5.
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