Iowa City man sentenced to 27 years for distributing heroin resulting in death

An Iowa City man has been sentenced to 27 years in federal prison for distributing a mixture of a controlled substance that included heroin to a man who overdosed on it and died in January 2021.

Dione Mobley, 43, known as “Flee” according to court documents, was convicted in a bench — or non-jury — trial last year of conspiracy to distribute a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of heroin resulting in death. Mobley was one of the sources of the heroin that resulted in the death of a man identified in court records only by the initials of “M.W.” on Jan. 3, 2021.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher sentenced Mobley to 27 years and ordered him to serve five years of supervised release following his prison term.

Another man, Lugene Shipp, 43, also part of the drug distribution, was convicted in the bench trial. Shipp previously was sentenced to 25 years.

According to court documents, Iowa City and University of Iowa police officers and Johnson County Drug Task Force members conducted surveillance and used cellphone records, social media and doorbell surveillance video, as well as cooperating witnesses, during the investigation, which began in 2019 before the death.

Law enforcement started receiving information in late 2019 and early 2020 that Mobley was working with another male, later identified as Shipp, court documents stated.

On Jan. 23, 2021, officers responded to an Iowa City home after a landlord found a body there. Joshua Luerken, the landlord, told police a tenant contacted him about a “smell” coming from a bedroom, according to court documents. Luerken found M.W lying face down on the bed.

Officers said the man likely had been dead for some time. They found several syringes near the body and also found a cellphone under his stomach. On a table, there was a plastic bag containing a small amount of what tested as heroin and fentanyl, court records stated. An autopsy showed M.W. died from heroin intoxication.

Investigators reviewing M.W.’s phone found his last outgoing call was about 3:16 p.m. Jan. 3, 2021, according to court documents. Based on that call, as well as the body’s decomposition and other evidence, police believed he died on or about that Jan. 3.

The victim’s phone also contained messages indicating he received and used the heroin that day, court documents stated. Investigators also found a Facebook Messenger conversation with Kami Kinzebach, who was known to police as a drug dealer, about M.W. asking her to trade some heroin for prescription medication.

M.W. and Kinzebach met up on Jan. 3, 2021. M.W. sent her a message about 1:06 p.m., thanking her for the heroin and she responded about 2 p.m.

M.W. then sent a text to another person about 13 minutes later, saying he was “nodding out” — going into semiconscious or unconscious state from heroin. About an hour and 15 minutes later, M.W. used his phone for the last time, according to records.

On Feb. 19, 2021, officers obtained a search warrant of Kinzebach’s Iowa City home and seized her cellphone, two bags of methamphetamine and two bags of heroin mixed with fentanyl. She identified her drug source as Mobley.

Kinzebach told officers Mobley worked with Shipp and she purchased heroin from Mobley about two times a week. She also admitted to selling heroin to M.W., and that it came from Mobley.

Kinzebach gave police consent to obtain videos from her doorbell camera, court documents state, which identified M.W. and Shipp.

Kinzebach previously pleaded guilty to distribution of a controlled substance resulting of death in this case.

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