Four sentenced in extensive Iowa marijuana conspiracy caught on wire tap

Several defendants, involved in a drug trafficking conspiracy that brought 'high-grade” marijuana from Colorado and California to the Cedar Rapids area from 2011 to 2013, were sentenced this week in federal court.

The trafficking operation was laid out in a document filed Wednesday in one of the 11 co-conspirators' sentencing memos. All have pleaded guilty and eight have been sentenced in U.S. District Court. The organization was taken down through a DEA investigation that involved court authorized wiretaps on multiple cell phones.

Some of the co-conspirators financed the trips from Colorado and California, one man grew the marijuana in Breckenridge, Colo., others were in involved in transporting, and purchasing and reselling the marijuana, according to the sentencing document. In one transport, at least three were involved in transporting 25 pounds of the product by a private plane from Colorado to the Iowa City airport.

The marijuana was considered high-grade quality and sold for $3,450 per pound, according to the document. The traffickers also brought in marijuana candy bars and other items which contained the drug. Two co-conspirators in one trip picked up 90-95 marijuana candy bars for $1,000 in Colorado.

Each co-conspirator made varying amounts, according to the documents. The pilot of the private plane, Mark Swanson, 55, of Breckenridge, Colo., who was sentenced Wednesday to four years in prison, admitted to making at least $35,000 for growing and selling marijuana. He was also fined $10,000 in additional to a $35,000 money judgment that he is required to pay and his plane was forfeited.

Others sentenced this week:

-James Allen, 53, from Belton, Missouri, was sentenced Thursday to six months in prison followed by three months on home detention. Allen pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute marijuana guilty Aug. 18, 2014.

-Matthew Fritz, 39, of Cedar Rapids, was sentenced Thursday to five years probation and fined $3,000. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute marijuana Aug. 18, 2014.

-Corey Kintzel, 39, of Vinton, was sentenced Tuesday to 12 months in prison. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute marijuana Sept. 16, 2014.

Those previously sentenced:

-Nels Nelson, 34, of Cedar Rapids, was sentenced Apr. 21 to over three years in prison. Nelson was implicated in a drug conspiracy that spanned about 10 years from Arizona to Cedar Rapids. That trafficking operation brought in large amounts of marijuana, many times concealed in a false bed of a pickup, and consisted of 200 to 300 pounds of marijuana at one time, according to court documents. Nelson was the only one from the recent case connected with this earlier operation.

-Chad Straub, 40, of Salinas, Calif., was sentenced May 29 to over one year in prison.

-Robert Leonard, 55, of Oak Run, Calif., was sentenced Sept. 25 to over five years in prison.

-Brenda Leonard, 51, of Oak Run, Calif., was sentenced Sept. 25 to two years probation.

-Tyler Scheer, 26, of Cedar Rapids, was sentenced Dec. 22 to nine months in prison and fined $3,000.

Three pending sentencing:

-Jesse Tolen, 36, of Castella, Calif., sentencing Jan. 15.

- Corey Marx, 29, of Cedar Rapids, sentencin Jan. 15.

- Shannon Ehlts, 38, of Lowden, sentencing date not set.