Waterloo Fentanyl Dealer Found Guilty After Four Day Trial

A Waterloo man who traveled to Mexico to acquire fentanyl was convicted by a jury today after a four-day trial in federal court in Cedar Rapids.

Javoni Marcelius Butler, age 43, from Waterloo, Iowa, was convicted of one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, one count of international money laundering, and one count of possession with intent to distribute controlled substances. The verdict was returned this morning following about forty minutes of jury deliberations.

The evidence at trial showed that, beginning in January 2022, and continuing until December 20, 2023, Butler traveled to Mexico on several occasions to acquire fentanyl. During that time, Butler obtained over 10,000 pills containing fentanyl and a significant quantity of fentanyl powder. After obtaining the fentanyl from his Mexican source of supply, Butler worked with several people in Waterloo, Iowa, to distribute the fentanyl. On at least one occasion, Butler conducted an international wire transfer of drug proceeds.

Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Butler was taken into custody by the United States Marshal after the verdict was returned and will remain in custody pending sentencing. Butler faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years' imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of 100 years' imprisonment, a $10,500,000 fine, and a lifetime term of supervised release following any imprisonment.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dillan Edwards and Special Assistant United States Attorney Michael Hudson, and it 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 Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Tri-County Drug Enforcement Task Force consisting of the Waterloo Police Department, Cedar Falls Police Department, Black Hawk County Sheriff's Department, Evansdale Police Department, Waverly Police Department, Hudson Police Department, La Porte City Police Department, and the Bremer County Sheriff's Department; the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the United States Postal Inspection Service; and Homeland Security Investigations.

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.

The case file number is 23-CR-02078-CJW.

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