An eastern Iowa man will spend more than 30 years in federal prison for selling heroin that caused a death.
Thirty-five-year-old Ramon Cortez Freeman of Cedar Rapids pled guilty in November of last year to distribution of heroin resulting in death, three counts of distributing heroin and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Freeman admitted he dealt heroin to another person in January of 2014 and that person died from using the drug. Investigators say the heroin Freeman was distributing was around 70 percent pure, while historically heroin distributors had peddled heroin that was only one percent pure.
They say the more pure forms of heroin have led to more overdoses and deaths in eastern Iowa. Freeman was sentenced to 365 months in prison on the death charge, 240 months on the heroin distribution charges, and 120 months on the firearm charge. The sentences will run concurrently. He was ordered to make nearly 10-thousand dollars in restitution to the family of the overdose victim.