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(Cedar Rapids, IA) -- A central Iowa woman involved in a large-scale drug ring has been sentenced in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids to 10-years in prison. Investigators say 45-year-old Eva Ordaz Hernandez of Marshalltown was part of a meth-ring, operating between Mexico and Iowa. Investigators say she conducted some of drug-trade in front of her minor grand-daughter. They also say on one occasion she used her minor son to collect thousands of dollars owed to the drug ring.
Evidence at the plea and sentencing hearings showed that in 2018, investigators began looking into a large-scale drug trafficking organization operating between Mexico and Iowa. They discovered Ordaz Hernandez was distributing large amounts of methamphetamine and collecting money on behalf of the organization. On one occasion, Ordaz Hernandez collected $20,000 in currency for an outstanding drug debt owed to the organization.
Ordaz Hernandez was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams. Ordaz Hernandez was sentenced to 120 months’ imprisonment. She must also serve a five-year term of supervised release after the prison. There is no parole in the federal system.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Ashley Corkery and Dillan Edwards. Thiscase was investigated as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program of the United States Department of Justice through a cooperative effort of theMid-Iowa Task Force (Marshall County Sheriff’s Office, Tama County Sheriff’s Office, Marshalltown Police Department), Iowa National Guard and Counter Drug Program, Tri-County Task Force (Cedar Falls Police Department, Waterloo Police Department, Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office), the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.