CEDAR RAPIDS – An Iowa man who distributed drugs that caused an overdose death and two serious injuries was convicted by a judge on April 19 after a four-day trial in federal court in February in Cedar Rapids.
Antrell Desharron Lewis, age 23, of Chicago, Illinois, was convicted of one count of conspiracy to distribute heroin and furanylfentanyl resulting in death and serious bodily injury, and one count of distributing heroin and furanylfentanyl resulting in death and serious bodily. The verdict was returned on April 19.
The evidence at trial showed that Lewis sold heroin to multiple customers in the Dubuque, Iowa, area in 2015 and 2016. His customers knew him as “Lucky” or “Five Star.” In early March 2016, four men from Maquoketa, Iowa, drove to Dubuque to purchase heroin from Lewis. Lewis and another man met with one of the Maquoketa men, and Lewis sold him a substance Lewis represented to be heroin. The Maquoketa men then drove to an apartment in Dubuque, where two of them met with another man and distributed some of the purported heroin to him. The two men who did not enter the apartment simultaneously used and overdosed on the purported heroin while sitting in the car. Emergency responders arrived at the scene and saved their lives using Narcan, an opiate reversal agent. The man inside the apartment used the purported heroin after emergency responders left the area. He was found deceased of a drug overdose approximately 18 hours later.
Drugs seized from the car and from the apartment tested positive for heroin and a substance called furanylfentanyl. Furanylfentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid, and is an analogue of fentanyl. Under federal law, drugs that are similar to substances listed in the controlled substance schedules are considered “controlled substance analogues,” and it is illegal to distribute them just as it is to distribute substances such as cocaine, heroin, and marijuana.
Sentencing before Chief United States District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Lewis remains in custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing. Lewis faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of life imprisonment, a $1,000,000 fine, $200 in special assessments, and up to a lifetime term supervised release following any imprisonment.
The case is being investigated by the Dubuque Drug Task Force and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Task Force consisting of the DEA; the Cedar Rapids Police Department; the Linn County Sheriff’s Office; the Marion Police Department; the Iowa City Police Department; and the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dan Chatham and Special Assistant United States Attorney Drew Inman.
