CEDAR RAPIDS – A California man who used the mail to send dangerous drugs to Iowa was sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison.
Tyler Vuong Le, age 28, from Anaheim California, received the prison term on June 11, 2024, after a January 3, 2024, guilty plea to distribution of a controlled substance.
In a plea agreement, Le admitted he mailed packages on multiple occasions from California to Iowa that were pressed to look like oxycodone pills, but instead contained other controlled substances including fentanyl. Le believed the pills would be redistributed in Iowa. Le also sent cocaine, counterfeit Adderall pills containing methamphetamine, and LSD to Iowa. Fortunately, these items were being sent to an individual that was working with law enforcement and the controlled substances, including over 5,900 of the counterfeit oxycodone pills, were seized by law enforcement before they could be redistributed. According to the DEA, fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid drug that is 100 times more potent that morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin.
Le (pictured at top) was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand. Le was sentenced to 87 months’ imprisonment. He must also serve a 4-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
Le 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 Attorney Emily K. Nydle 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 United States Postal Inspectors, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and a Federal Task Force composed of the Waterloo Police Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms assisted by the Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office and Cedar Falls Police Department.