Cleveland Stephens, Cocaine and Methamphetamine Trafficking, Iowa 2025

A 63-year-old Cedar Rapids man has been sentenced to over 12 years in federal prison for his role in a large-scale cocaine and methamphetamine trafficking operation.

Cleveland Stephens, also known as ‘Schmitty,’ pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance on August 27, 2025. In court documents, prosecutors said Stephens sold pounds of methamphetamine to multiple individuals between August 2022 and June 2024.

Law enforcement officers first discovered evidence of Stephens’ involvement in the trafficking operation in October 2022, when they searched a car he was in and found cocaine base, cocaine, fentanyl, and marijuana. Sixteen months later, officers searched his home and vehicle in Cedar Rapids and found additional amounts of methamphetamine, marijuana, and nearly $4,500 in cash.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams sentenced Stephens to 151 months’ imprisonment and a five-year term of supervised release after his prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.

The case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad.

The HSTF Kansas City office, which covers Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska, is composed of agents and officers from several federal and state agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Internal Revenue Service.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Devra T. Hake and Dillan Edwards and investigated by HSTF Kansas City, with the assistance of the DEA Task Force.

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