Indictment Returned in Alleged Waterloo Heroin Conspiracy
| U.S. Attorney’s Office September 06, 2012 |
A federal grand jury has charged 14 more people with participating in a conspiracy to distribute heroin in the Waterloo area. The charges are contained in an indictment unsealed on September 5, 2012, in United States District Court in Cedar Rapids.
Lusta Johnson, 57; Catherine Johnson, 54; Dominick Watts, 39; Conny Miles, 50; Leroy Baylor, 42; Bryant Olive, 54; Antoine Williams, 37; Barbara Brooks, 57; Raydell Talbert, 53; Frank Nelson, 44; Fred Olive, 56; Veronica Kelly, 57; and April Tillman, 46; all from Waterloo; and Mavia Walker, 45, from Chicago, have been charged with conspiracy to distribute heroin. Other charges included in the indictment against some of the alleged conspirators include making a house available for drug storage and trafficking, distribution of heroin, possession of heroin with intent to distribute, and money laundering conspiracy.
The indictment alleges that, between about January 2007 and August 2012, Johnson, Johnson, Watts, Miles, Baylor, Olive, Brooks, Talbert, Nelson, Olive, Walker, Kelly, and Tillman were involved in a conspiracy to distribute at least 1,000 grams of heroin. The indictment also alleges individual drug-related offenses, including counts of heroin distribution, against Johnson, Johnson, Watts, Miles, and Baylor. Some of the drug sales alleged in the indictment allegedly took place within 1,000 feet of schools or playgrounds in Waterloo.
If convicted on the conspiracy charge, each alleged conspirator faces a mandatory minimum sentence of at least 10 years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of life imprisonment, a fine, a $100 special assessment, and at least five years of supervised release following any imprisonment.
Miles, Baylor, Olive, Brooks, Talbert, Nelson, Olive, and Kelly appeared on September 5, 2012, in federal court in Cedar Rapids and were detained. They are next scheduled to appear in federal court in Cedar Rapids on Monday, September 10, 2012, at 2:30 p.m., for a detention hearing. Johnson, Johnson, Watts, Williams, Tillman, and Walker remain fugitives.
As with any criminal case, a charge is merely an accusation, and a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
The case is being prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorneys Lisa C. Williams and Patrick J. Reinert and was investigated by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program of the United States Department of Justice through a cooperative effort of the Cedar Rapids Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Task Force, Tri-County Drug Task Force, Homeland Security Investigations, Internal Revenue Service, and Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Cedar Rapids DEA Task Force consists of the DEA; Linn County Sheriff’s Office; Cedar Rapids Police Department; Marion Police Department; Iowa City Police Department; Clinton Police Department; Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; and the Sixth Judicial District Department of Correctional Services. The Tri-County Drug Task Force consists of the Waterloo Police Department; Cedar Falls Police Department; Waverly Police Department; Bremer County Sheriff’s Office; Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office; LaPorte City Police Department; Evansdale Police Department; Hudson Police Department; and Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is 12-2024.