CEDAR RAPIDS – A married Iowa couple who worked together to sell heroin on a daily basis were each sentenced on November 19, 2018, to federal prison terms.
Dino Harrington, age 32, received a sentence of over fifteen years in prison following his May 14, 2018, guilty plea to distribution of heroin within 1,000 feet of a protected location. His wife, Tiffany Youngblood, age 40, received a sentence of over three years in prison following her June 19, 2018, guilty plea to possession with intent to distribute heroin and fentanyl.
In plea agreements, Harrington and Youngblood admitted that, in early March 2018, they sold heroin to an individual at a gas station in Cedar Rapids. Harrington met the individual in the gas station’s restroom, while Youngblood waited outside. Law enforcement stopped Harrington and Youngblood after the sale and Youngblood had a heroin and fentanyl mixture. Harrington and Youngblood both admitted that they intended to sell the heroin and fentanyl mixture. Officers found a loaded handgun in Youngblood’s purse.
According to sentencing documents and information disclosed at the sentencing hearings, Harrington and Youngblood started selling heroin in the Cedar Rapids area in approximately February 2017, and continued to do so until their arrests in March 2018. Harrington had multiple prior drug felony convictions. Youngblood had no prior criminal record.
Harrington and Youngblood were each sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge Linda R. Reade. Harrington was sentenced to 188 months’ imprisonment and Youngblood was sentenced to 41 months’ imprisonment. Harrington must also serve a six-year term of supervised release after his prison term, while Youngblood is required to serve a three-year term of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.
Harrington and Youngblood are both being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until they can be transported to a federal prison.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Justin Lightfoot and was investigated as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program of the United States Department of Justice by 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; and the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement.
They should be sent to the gallows