CEDAR RAPIDS — A Cedar Rapids man was convicted this week in federal court for distributing heroin near a truck stop and faces up to 60 years in prison.
Dino Harrington, 31, pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court to distribution and aiding a abetting the distribution of a controlled substance — heroin — within 1,000 feet of a truck stop. Harrington, along with a woman, Tiffany Youngblood, 39, also of Cedar Rapids, were charged after authorities conducted surveillance on the two and set up controlled drug buys. Youngblood’s trial is set July 9.
A complaint shows that authorities set up surveillance on the residence of Harrington and Youngblood and also coordinated controlled buys of heroin with confidential informants who purchased heroin from the two on March 1 and 5.
Harrington admitted that he and Youngblood met the informant at a Kwik Shop and McDonalds located in the area of Wright Brothers Boulevard SW and Sixth Street SW, according to the plea agreement. The two usually arranged drug deals through text messages and then would met buyers in a bathroom at one of the businesses.
During these transactions, Youngblood would hand off heroin to Harrington and he would make the actual sales, according to the plea.
Harrington and Youngblood were arrested following the controlled buy on March 5, when investigators made a traffic stop on their vehicle, the complaint shows. Investigators found a loaded Taurus .380 pistol in the vehicle and 2.11 grams of a mixture with heroin and about 1.79 grams of the mixture also contained fentanyl, a narcotic for pain. The heroin mix was in several small plastic bags and found inside Youngblood’s jacket pockets. They also found on Harrington five $20 bills that matched the serial numbers given to the confidential informant.
Harrington faces up to 60 years in prison because the drug deals took place within 1,000 feet of the Kwik Shop — truck stop — and he had a previous felony drug conviction in Illinois from 2009.
l Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com