Wednesday April 26th, 2023

Jose Miguel Soto-Guzman, age 47, received the prison sentence after a December 6, 2022 guilty plea to distribution of a controlled substance near a protected location after having been previously convicted of a felony drug offense and possession of a firearm by a felon.

Evidence at hearings in Soto-Guzman and his co-defendant’s cases established that, between March and June 2022, Soto-Guzman supplied heroin users in the Dubuque area with fentanyl.  Soto-Guzman and his co-defendant, Fallon Christina Murphy, regularly traveled to La Crosse, Wisconsin, to purchase fentanyl from Soto-Guzman’s source, which Soto-Guzman and Murphy then sold in Dubuque.  During one of these trips, Soto-Guzman’s three-year-old child was present.  Between March and June 2022, investigators conducted five controlled purchases from Soto‑Guzman and Murphy.  The drugs purchased contained fentanyl, but some of the fentanyl was mixed with heroin and some with methamphetamine.  During a drug sale, Soto-Guzman told an undercover agent that two people had overdosed the previous day.  When investigators searched a residence where Soto-Guzman stayed, they located a firearm that he possessed.  Soto-Guzman, a convicted felon, was also known to possess a firearm while selling controlled substances.

Soto-Guzman was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams.  He was sentenced to 216 months’ imprisonment.  He must also serve a 6-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.  Murphy was previously sentenced to 28 months’ imprisonment and 3 years of supervised release.

Soto-Guzman is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.