A Cedar Rapids man who led a large-scale methamphetamine trafficking organization was sentenced on March 18, 2022, to 30 years in federal prison.
George Patrick Ashby, age 62, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received the prison term after a July 16, 2021 guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance.
Evidence disclosed at sentencing showed that, from at least the summer of 2018, and continuing to March 10, 2020, Ashby organized and led a large-scale drug trafficking organization that brought significant amounts of ice methamphetamine from Burlington, Iowa, to the Cedar Rapids area for redistribution. Ashby possessed firearms in connection with this drug distribution, and he provided firearms to other members of the organization. Ashby was responsible for distributing at least 4.5 kilograms of ice methamphetamine.
Ashby was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams. Ashby was sentenced to 360 months’ imprisonment. He must also serve a five-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
Ashby 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 Attorneys Emily Nydle and Dillan Edwards and was investigated as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program of the United States Department of Justice through a cooperative effort of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Task Force consisting of the DEA; the Linn County Sheriff’s Office; the Cedar Rapids Police Department; the Marion Police Department; the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement; and the Burlington Police Department.
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file number is 20-CR-00027.
Follow us on Twitter @USAO_NDIA.