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Press Release

Man and Woman Involved in Drug Robbery and Murder Sentenced in Federal Court

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Iowa

A man and woman who were responsible for participating in a robbery that led to the murder of another man were sentenced today to federal prison.

Danielle Busch, age 31, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received a decade in prison after an April 13, 2020 guilty plea to conspiracy to commit robbery affecting interstate commerce and using and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence resulting in murder.

William Leo Yancey, age 46, also from Cedar Rapids, received over 30 years in prison after a May 13, 2021 guilty plea to robbery affecting interstate commerce and using and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence resulting in murder.

Evidence during the case established that, in May 2014, Busch, Yancey, and Matthew Robbins, who will be sentenced at a later date, conspired to rob a local drug dealer, and then robbed the dealer on May 31, 2014.  During the robbery, Robbins possessed a firearm which was discharged, murdering the victim. 

Busch and Yancey were sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand, who described the case as an “horrific offense.”  Busch was sentenced to 120 months’ and one day imprisonment.  She must also serve a five-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  Yancey was sentenced to 400 months’ imprisonment.  Judge Strand noted that Yancey has been a drain on the criminal justice system who has engaged in criminal conduct throughout his adult life.  Yancey is currently serving a 188-month prison term for conspiring to manufacture methamphetamine and will begin serving this sentence once he finishes serving that term of imprisonment.  He must also serve a five-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.

“The volatile combination of drugs and guns resulted in a man’s tragic death,” said Acting United States Attorney Sean R. Berry.  “Today’s sentences hold accountable two of the individuals who participated in a plan to rob that man of drugs and money.  Our office is committed to vigorously prosecuting those who mix drugs, guns, and violence.”

Busch and Yancey are being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until they can be transported to a federal prison.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Lisa C. Williams and Emily K. Nydle and was investigated by the Marion Police Department, the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation, the Linn County Sheriff’s Office, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Cedar Rapids Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Iowa City Police Department, the United States Marshals Service, the Davenport Police Department, the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, the Benton County Sheriff’s Office, the Cedar County Sheriff’s Office, the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, and the Daytona Beach Shores Florida Police Department.  Assistance was also provided by the Waypoint Services Survivor's Program in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl

The case file number is 19-cr-53.

Follow us on Twitter @USAO_NDIA.

Updated September 15, 2021

Topics
Drug Trafficking
Violent Crime