Marcos Perez-Trevino Gets 24+ Years for Ice Meth Empire

A Marshalltown, Iowa man at the center of a sprawling ice methamphetamine pipeline from Mexico has been sentenced to 292 months in federal prison. Marcos Perez-Trevino, 46, was handed the 24-year-plus sentence after a jury convicted him on August 16, 2016, for conspiring to distribute massive quantities of the drug across central Iowa.

Perez-Trevino didn’t just sell meth—he built a distribution network that moved multiple pounds across state lines. Evidence presented at trial revealed his role in orchestrating shipments from Mexico directly into Iowa, where he funneled the drug to a network of lower-level dealers in ounce and multi-ounce quantities. His operation ran unchecked from at least 2014, growing bolder and more dangerous with time.

The DEA and local task forces caught up with him on August 12, 2015, when Oklahoma police pulled over the car he was driving. Inside, they found nearly two pounds of high-purity ice meth stashed in the vehicle. Perez-Trevino claimed he’d found the drugs at a rest stop—a story so flimsy it collapsed under the weight of forensic and investigative proof linking him to the shipment.

Sentenced in Cedar Rapids by U.S. District Chief Judge Linda R. Reade, Perez-Trevino now faces the full wrath of the federal system: 292 months behind bars, a $100 special assessment, and five years of supervised release upon any future freedom. There will be no early parole—just decades to reflect on a criminal enterprise that poisoned communities across Iowa.

The prosecution, led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa C. Williams, was a full-scale assault by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF). It united the Tri-County Drug Task Force, Mid-Iowa Task Force, and DEA Task Force—drawing resources from Waterloo, Marshalltown, Cedar Rapids, and nearly a dozen sheriff’s offices across the state.

Perez-Trevino remains in U.S. Marshals custody, awaiting transfer to a federal penitentiary. Court records, including case file 15-CR-2037, are available through the Northern District of Iowa’s electronic filing system. Follow updates from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa on Twitter @USAO_NDIA.