Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News
A man who possessed and sold fentanyl pills was sentenced today to more than seven years in federal prison.
Anthony Frank Ernst, age 39, from Dubuque, Iowa, received the prison term after a July 9, 2024, guilty plea to one count of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.
Evidence at the plea and sentencing hearings showed that, in April 2023, Ernst distributed pills that contained fentanyl to an individual who, in turn, distributed pills to another person. That person took the pills, which caused the person to suffer an overdose. A few days later, officers stopped a car that Ernst was a passenger in. Ernst was in possession of more than 240 fentanyl pills. On June 7, 2023, Ernst sold marijuana and fentanyl to a confidential informant who was working with law enforcement, and, in the early morning on June 9, 2023, officers again stopped a car that Ernst was a passenger in. Ernst was in possession of controlled substances, including fentanyl.
Ernst was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams. Ernst was sentenced to 94 months’ imprisonment. He must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
Ernst 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 Adam J. Vander Stoep and was also 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 Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, the Lacrosse, Wisconsin, Drug Task Force, and the Dubuque Drug Task Force, comprised of the Dubuque Police Department and the Dubuque Sheriff’s Office.
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file number is 23-CR-1019.
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