Sioux City Times

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Iowa issued the following announcement on Oct. 18.

A man who conspired to distribute methamphetamine and illegally possessed ammunition pled guilty October 17, 2019, in federal court in Sioux City.

Cole Rongved, 26, from Okoboji, Iowa, was convicted of one count of conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and one count of illegally possessing ammunition, as Rongved was subject to an order of protection in the Iowa District Court for Dickinson County.

At the plea hearing, Rongved admitted that he was involved in a conspiracy from May 2018 through January 2019 that distributed more than 3 pounds of methamphetamine in the Dickinson County, Iowa area.  Rongved admitted he and two associates acquired over two pounds of methamphetamine from a source in Council Bluffs for later distribution in the Lakes area.  During search warrants executed at Rongved’s residence, law enforcement located and seized over 1000 rounds of ammunition, over 5 pounds of marijuana, 37 doses of LSD, 4 grams of methamphetamine, over 2 pounds of psilocybin mushrooms, nearly $38,000 in cash, and other items of drug trafficking and drug paraphernalia.   

Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand will be set after a presentence report is prepared.  Rongved remains in custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing.  Rongved faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of life imprisonment, a $10,000,000 fine, and at least five years of supervised release following any imprisonment.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Shawn S. Wehde and was investigated by Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, Dickinson County Sheriff’s Office, Palo County Sheriff’s Office, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Iowa Division of Criminalistics Investigation. 

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

The case file number is 19-4025. 

Original source can be found here.