A woman from Waverly, Iowa, has been sentenced to 13 years in federal prison for her role in a methamphetamine distribution conspiracy.
Heather Sue Hartzell, 32, was sentenced to 160 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance on December 21, 2023.
According to court documents, an undercover agent purchased methamphetamine from Hartzell outside her residence in Waterloo, Iowa, in 2022. Approximately one month later, law enforcement officers stopped Hartzell while she was in a car with her co-defendant James Douglas Morrison returning from Des Moines. Inside the car, Hartzell and Morrison had almost 2,000 grams of ‘ice’ methamphetamine that Morrison had obtained from his supplier in Des Moines, Iowa. Morrison also had a gun.
Hartzell was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams. In addition to her prison term, she must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
Hartzell is currently being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until she can be transported to a federal prison. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Nicole L. Nagin, and it was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Tri-County Drug Enforcement Task Force, the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, the Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office, and the Waterloo Police Department.
The case file number is 23-CR-2045, and court file information can be found at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
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Key Facts
- State: Iowa
- Category: Drug Trafficking
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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