Guatemalan Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Conspiring to Distribute Methamphetamine in Dubuque, Iowa

A Guatemalan man who conspired to distribute methamphetamine was sentenced today to more than 12 years in federal prison. Jose Eleazar Aceves-Garcia, age 30, from Guatemala, received the prison term after a November 20, 2024 guilty plea to conspiracy to distribute at least 500 grams of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine and 50 grams of actual (pure) methamphetamine.

In a plea agreement, Aceves-Garcia admitted that between January 2019 and January 2022, he distributed at least 400 pounds of ice methamphetamine to a co-conspirator in the Dubuque area. His fingerprints were on two packages, which contained a total of more than seven pounds of ice methamphetamine, that he mailed to the co-conspirator in Dubuque. Aceves-Garcia also distributed a kilogram of heroin to the co-conspirator.

Aceves-Garcia was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams. Aceves-Garcia was sentenced to 151 months' imprisonment and must serve a 5-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system. Aceves-Garcia 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 Devra T. Hake and was investigated by the Dubuque Drug Task Force, Dubuque County Sheriff's Office, Dubuque Police Department, Quad City Metropolitan Enforcement Group, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, United States Postal Inspection Service, and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation Criminalistics Laboratory.

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is 23-CR-1022. Follow us on X @USAO_NDIA.