Sioux City, Iowa — A Heron Lake woman will serve four years in federal prison, and a Spencer man eleven years after they pled guilty to dealing drugs in the Iowa Great Lakes area.
The US Attorney’s Office says that 36-year-old Jillian Preston of Heron Lake, Minnesota, received the prison sentence recently after an April guilty plea to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. They say 52-year-old Todd Daugherty of Spencer received the prison term after a February guilty plea to the same charge.
At their guilty pleas, the US Attorney’s office says Preston and Daugherty each admitted that from 2013 through May 2014 they were involved in a conspiracy that distributed more than 50 grams of actual (pure) methamphetamine in the Spencer and Lakes area. They say Preston obtained quarter to half-pound quantities from sources in Minnesota for distribution in Iowa, and that he obtained one ounce to quarter-pound quantities from Preston for further redistribution in Iowa. And four ounces of methamphetamine was seized from Daugherty in a Minnesota traffic stop.
Preston and Daugherty were sentenced in Sioux City by United States District Court Judge Mark W. Bennett. Preston was sentenced to 48 months’ imprisonment. Daugherty was sentenced to 132 months’ imprisonment. Each must pay a special assessment of $100 and each must also serve a 5-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system. Preston and Daugherty are being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until they can be transported to a federal prison.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Shawn S. Wehde and investigated by Clay County Sheriff’s Office, Iowa Great Lakes Drug Task Force, Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, and the Minnesota State Patrol.
