Fourth defendant in smuggling guns to Lebanon conspiracy pleads not guilty

CEDAR RAPIDS — The fourth defendant charged in a conspiracy to smuggle guns to Lebanon pleaded not guilty to 18 criminal counts in federal court Wednesday.

Adam Herz, 22, of Cedar Rapids, pleaded not guilty to 16 counts of unlawful drug user in possession of a firearm and one count each of firearms conspiracy and money laundering. He is accused of buying 16 firearms from Dec. 12, 2014, through Feb. 28 and being an unlawful user of marijuana.

If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison on each unlawful possession of firearms charge, up to five years for the firearms conspiracy and up to 20 years for money laundering.

The 18 charges against him were included in a 46-count indictment unsealed last week. Three others pleaded not guilty Tuesday.

Others charged are his father, Ali Herz, 50; Ali's brother, Bassem Herz, 30; and Bassem's wife, Sarah Zeaiter, 24. All are from Cedar Rapids.

Ali Herz is charged with 23 counts of domestic abuser in possession of a firearm and one count each of firearm conspiracy and money laundering.

Bassem Herz is charged with one count each of firearms conspiracy and money laundering.

Zeaiter is charged with three counts of false claim to U.S. citizenship on bank records and federal firearms forms and one count each of firearms conspiracy and money laundering.

U.S. Chief Magistrate Jon Scoles set a trial for all defendants on Aug. 10 in U.S. District Court.

All four defendants, starting in late 2013 and continuing through May 12, are accused of conspiring to deal firearms without a license, ship and transport firearms to Lebanon in containers without providing written notice that firearms and ammunition were in the packages, and making false statements to licensed firearms dealers for transaction records required by law, according to the indictment.

The defendants are accused of concealing 53 firearms and 6,972 rounds of ammunition among skid loaders and other items in two shipping containers bound for Lebanon, which were loaded at Midamar Corp. in Cedar Rapids.

One container was shipped in March and the other between May 6 and May 8.

According to the indictment, investigators have tracked thousands of dollars being deposited and withdrawn from the defendants' bank accounts for guns, ammunition and skid loaders.

l Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com