Anthony Harris

Introduction

Anthony Harris, age 61, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was convicted by a federal jury on October 15, 2026, after a three-day trial in Cedar Rapids on one count of distribution of a controlled substance near a protected location and two counts of distribution of a controlled substance. The evidence at trial showed that on three occasions in 2022, law enforcement used a confidential informant to buy methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl from Harris — including a sale made within 1,000 feet of a public secondary school. The verdict, returned after about two hours of jury deliberations, carries sentencing exposure to be set at a later hearing before the court.

Background Information

The convictions rest on three controlled purchases in a single year. According to the release, on April 13, 2022, Harris distributed methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl to the confidential informant within 1,000 feet of a public secondary school in Cedar Rapids — the conduct charged as distribution near a protected location, a designation that raises the penalty for drug sales made in the vicinity of schools. On June 1, 2022, Harris distributed heroin to the informant. Several months later, on September 6, 2022, Harris met the informant at the same location as the June sale and again distributed methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl. Beyond his age, his city, and the sales themselves, the release describes nothing about Harris’s occupation, family, or prior record.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Convicted by a jury; sentencing pending.

The trial that ended in Harris’s conviction was built on the informant purchases. A three-day trial in federal court in Cedar Rapids presented the evidence of the three 2022 transactions: the April 13, 2022 sale of methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl within 1,000 feet of a public secondary school; the June 1, 2022 sale of heroin; and the September 6, 2022 sale of methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl at the same location as the June transaction. The jury deliberated about two hours before returning guilty verdicts on all three counts on the afternoon of October 15, 2026. The release does not state whether Harris testified, what defense was presented, or the specific quantities involved in each purchase.

The prosecution was part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion — a whole-of-government partnership the release describes as directed at criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and smuggling and trafficking rings. HSTF Kansas City, headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, covers Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska, and drew on agents from Homeland Security Investigations, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service, the United States Marshals Service, and the United States Postal Inspection Service, alongside state investigators. The release does not state a sentencing date, and the counts of conviction carry statutory penalties to be determined at that hearing under the federal sentencing framework.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The reaction on the record is official: the release contains no community statements, no school-district response to the near-campus sales, and no comment from Harris or his counsel. The consequences are a three-count felony conviction by jury verdict — the most serious trial posture short of sentencing — with the school-proximity aggravator attached to the 2022 conduct. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Adam J. Vander Stoep and Jennifer Schrauth, and was investigated by HSTF Kansas City with the assistance of a Drug Enforcement Administration Task Force consisting of the DEA, the Linn County Sheriff’s Office, the Cedar Rapids Police Department, the Marion Police Department, and the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement. The case file number in the Northern District of Iowa is 25-CR-67.

Current Status

Harris stands convicted on all three counts of conviction and awaits sentencing, which the release does not schedule. Until that hearing, the documented record is the jury’s October 15, 2026 verdict on the protected-location count and the two distribution counts, the three informant purchases that supported them, and the multi-agency task force provenance of the case. The release does not state whether Harris is in custody or on conditions pending sentencing, whether he plans to appeal, or what guideline range the presentence investigation will produce. The convictions themselves are final unless overturned on appeal.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The jury verdict fixes Harris, at 61, as a convicted dealer of three drugs — methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl — whose April 2022 sale took place within sight of a Cedar Rapids secondary school, a fact that will attach to every later stage of his case from presentence report to any supervised-release term. The two-hour deliberation and three-day trial leave little procedural ambiguity: the government’s informant evidence was accepted by the jury in full. The release describes no employment, housing, or family circumstances, and no statement in mitigation; the documented record is the 2022 sales, the task force investigation, the October 2026 verdict, and a sentencing hearing yet to come.

Sources

• U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Iowa, “Cedar Rapids Man Found Guilty of Distributing Controlled Substances”, October 15, 2026 — source