COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA – The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports Cass County (Iowa) man was sentenced Tuesday, for conspiring to distribute fentanyl causing serious bodily injury or death. 19-year-old Mason Blaine Loudermilk was sentenced in Council Bluffs US District Court, to 192 months (16-years) in prison. Loudermilk must serve a six-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.

According to court documents, Loudermilk plead guilty to conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. The investigation revealed that between August 2020 and May 2022, Loudermilk obtained fentanyl, in pill form, from a source in Omaha, Nebraska. In turn, Loudermilk distributed the pills containing fentanyl in and around Cass County (Iowa) causing several fentanyl overdoses, each overdose requiring medical attention to prevent death.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. Agencies involved in the investigation include the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, Atlantic Police Department, Cass County (Iowa) Sheriff’s Office, Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, Southwest Iowa Narcotics Enforcement Task Force (SWINE), Council Bluffs Police Department, Iowa Division of Intelligence, Iowa State Patrol, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation Crime Lab, Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Omaha Police Department.

Fentanyl has become the leading cause of drug overdose deaths in the United States. Counterfeit, fentanyl-laced pills often resemble pharmaceutical pill, but contain potentially lethal doses of fentanyl. Visit the Drug Enforcement Administration’s website to learn more about One Pill Can Kill.