Cedar Rapids leader of large-scale meth ring sentenced to 30 years

CEDAR RAPIDS — A Cedar Rapids man who authorities said was the leader of a large-scale drug trafficking ring was sentenced Friday to 30 years in federal prison.

George Patrick Ashby, 62, was convicted last year of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. Court documents state he distributed a significant amount of methamphetamine in the Cedar Rapids area from 2018 through March 2020, but he also sold heroin.

Ashby admitted to investigators that his supply of meth came from Fort Madison, Burlington and another city in Iowa.

In May 2019, law enforcement obtained a search warrant for his home and conducted a traffic stop, court documents state, where authorities found more than 69 grams of pure meth and $3,826 in cash.

Ashby told authorities he received “loads” of meth from his cousin in Burlington, and he had something “big” coming in a couple of days, the documents state.

In September 2019, another traffic stop on Ashby recovered more than 50 grams of meth and more than $1,000 in cash. He was convicted in Linn County District Court for the latter offense.

Ashby was stopped by police in March 2020 in a parking lot in Burlington where officers found 4 grams of ice meth and a stolen firearm. He told officers the stolen firearm “could be traced to a murder that happened in Cedar Rapids a year ago,” court documents state.

Two others, Corey Lowery, 42, of Burlington, and Henry Eilders, 42, of Cedar Rapids, were working with Ashby and have been convicted in the conspiracy.

Ashby has an extensive criminal history that goes back to when he was age 24, according to court documents. He had at least 16 adult convictions, including theft-related crimes, forgeries, felon in possession of a firearm, and federal convictions for drug-related crimes.

Prosecutors, in a document arguing against a lower prison term, said Ashby hasn’t accepted responsibility for his role in the conspiracy. He had no remorse and has unstated the amount and purity of meth he distributed in the crime. Ashby also “frivolously” denied selling heroin during the conspiracy.

U.S. District Judge C.J. Williams sentenced Ashby to 30 years in prison and ordered him to serve five years of supervised released following his prison term.

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