Cedar Rapids Felon with Over 700 Fentanyl Pills Sent to Federal Prison

A man who possessed 773 fentanyl pills he planned to distribute was sentenced today to five years in federal prison.

Shewarence Dehassiu Gibbs, age 46, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received the prison term after a January 30, 2026, guilty plea to possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.

Information at sentencing and a prior hearing showed that in April 2024, in Cedar Rapids, officers found Gibbs, who had an active arrest warrant. Gibbs fled on foot and discarded a backpack before officers apprehended him. In the backpack and in Gibbs's pockets were 773 fentanyl pills and $590 in cash. Gibbs has prior drug-related convictions and convictions for armed robbery, assault causing bodily injury, and domestic abuse assault causing bodily injury/mental illness.

Gibbs was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams. Gibbs was sentenced to 60 months' imprisonment and must also serve a four-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.

Gibbs is being held in the United States Marshal's custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Devra T. Hake and investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Cedar Rapids Police Department, the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, and the Iowa Division of Intelligence and Fusion Center.

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.plLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the "external link" icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link..

The case file number is 25-CR-12. Follow us on X @USAO_NDIA.