Three men are headed to federal prison for their roles in a marijuana trafficking organization that brought large amounts of high-priced marijuana from Colorado and California to Iowa.
Jesse Tolen, Shannon Ehlts, and Corey Marx all pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute marijuana and were sentenced today in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade. Tolen had also pled guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering.
• Tolen, 36, from Castella, California, was sentenced to 24 months’ imprisonment and will report to the Bureau of Prisons on a later date.
• Ehlts, 38, from Lowden, Iowa, was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment and will report to the Bureau of Prisons on a later date.
• Marx, 29, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment followed by a two month period of home detention. Marx is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison
All three must also serve three-year terms of supervised release after their prison terms. There is no parole in the federal system.
Tolen, Ehlts, and Marx were the last of twelve people to be sentenced in the conspiracy. Sentences for the twelve ranged from probation to 46 months’ imprisonment. The organization was dismantled through a DEA investigation that involved court-authorized wiretaps on multiple cellular phones.