CEDAR RAPIDS – A Waterloo drug dealer who possessed a firearm while also possessing narcotics that he intended to distribute was sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison.
Darius Caston, age 33, from Waterloo, Iowa, received the prison term after an August 28, 2025, guilty plea to one count of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and one count of carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime.
In a plea agreement, Caston admitted that officers found marijuana, methamphetamine, and a stolen and loaded gun in Caston’s car after stopping him on January 1, 2025. Caston admitted that he intended to distribute the marijuana and methamphetamine that was in the car. Caston also admitted that it was illegal for him to possess a gun because he had previously been convicted of a felony offense.
Caston was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand. Caston was sentenced to 100 months’ imprisonment. He must also serve a four-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.
Caston 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 Adam J. Vander Stoep and was investigated by the Cedar Rapids Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.