September 29, 2015

Gang Member Sentenced to Federal Prison for Drug Conspiracy

A man who distributed crack cocaine for nearly a decade was sentenced today to more than twenty years in federal prison.

Albert Allen, Jr., 30, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received the prison term after a guilty plea to conspiracy to distribute 280 grams or more of cocaine base, a/k/a crack cocaine. At the guilty plea, Allen admitted he and his co-conspirators agreed to distribute over 280 grams of crack cocaine. At sentencing, Allen was found to be a leader of an organization responsible for distributing more than two kilograms of crack cocaine in the Cedar Rapids area since 2002.

Allen was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade. Allen was sentenced to 262 months’ imprisonment. A special assessment of $100 was imposed. He must also serve a five-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.

Allen’s sentence was ordered to run consecutive to a previously imposed 60-year sentence, which followed his conviction for First Degree Murder in Cook County, Illinois. As a condition of his supervised release, Allen was ordered to have no association with other gang members.

Allen 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 Justin Lightfoot and investigated by a joint effort between the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Task Force and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Safe Streets Task Force. The DEA Task Force consists of the DEA; the Linn County Sheriff’s Office; the Cedar Rapids Police Department; the Marion Police Department; the Iowa City

Police Department; the Clinton Police Department; the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; the Sixth Judicial District Department of Correctional Services, High Risk Unit (HRU); and the Iowa National Guard. The FBI Safe Streets Task Force consists of the FBI; the Cedar Rapids Police Department; and the Sixth Judicial District Department of Correctional Services, High Risk Unit (HRU).

Court file information available https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is CR 13-66.

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