COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA – On September 28, 2012, Aldo Parra, a citizen of Mexico, was sentenced to 24 months imprisonment for conspiracy to distribute marijuana. United States Chief District Judge James E. Gritzner also ordered Parra to serve a three-year term of supervised release following incarceration. Parra was stopped by Iowa Department of Transportation officers on October 5, 2011, as he was returning to Arizona with $70,000 obtained from the sale of marijuana. Parra entered a guilty plea on May 3, 2012, to the charge of conspiracy to distribute marijuana, based upon his agreement to transport marijuana from Phoenix, Arizona to the Detroit, Michigan area.
The investigation was conducted by the Iowa Department of Transportation, the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Pottawattamie, Iowa, County Attorney’s Office. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.