Former Iowa City pipe shop owner convicted of manufacturing synthetic drugs

CEDAR RAPIDS - The former owner of Pipe Dreamz in Iowa City, which was shut down after a Drug Enforcement Administration raid in 2014, pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to three counts of manufacturing and distributing illegal synthetic drugs.

Robert Carl Sharp, 37, of Cedar Rapids, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance - AB-Fubinanca, a synthetic drug - and two counts of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, also AB-Fubinaca.

During the plea hearing, Sharp said he was told by the individuals supplying the substances that he was buying legal chemicals. He also admitted that despite those statements from his suppliers, he believed there was a high probability that the substances he received and distributed were regulated by federal drug laws, but took deliberate actions to avoid learning of the true identity of the substances by refusing to get them tested by a lab.

Sharp faces up to 20 years on each charge, and the judge could run the sentences consecutively for 60 years and a $3 million fine.

Prosecutors also is asking the court for a forfeiture $200,000. The evidence shows Sharp made hundreds of thousands of dollars in gross proceeds from the sales of illegal synthetic drugs during the conspiracy, according to court documents.

Sharp, after being released from federal prison in 2012 and while on supervised release, started selling and later manufacturing synthetic cannabinoids that are smoked, court documents show. The synthetics were sold under various labels such as Bling Bling Monkey, Super Nova and AK-47 from Pipe Dreamz.

Sharp initially started selling the synthetics in Peoria, Ill., and then in August 2013 moved his operation to the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City area, plea documents show. He employed Wayne Watkins, also charged in the case, and others who assisted in the dealing in Peoria and Iowa, and the manufacturing of synthetics in his residence in Cedar Rapids.

DEA and Johnson County drug task force investigators assisted members of the Peoria Multi-County Enforcement Group in conducting surveillance related to Sharp and Pipe Dreamz on April 26, 2014. Officers in Illinois conducted surveillance on Sharp's Illinois distributor as she traveled from Illinois to Pipe Dreamz in Iowa City. The investigators observed her and Sharp going through one of the plastic bags containing synthetic cannabinoids. Investigators noted Sharp was wearing a T-shirt that stated 'Support Your Local Drug Dealer.”

On May 2, 2014, a confidential source with the Johnson County Drug Task Force conducted a controlled buy from Pipe Dreamz, documents show. The initial samples of the substances were tested by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation lab and found to contain synthetic cannabinoids.

Authorities searched Sharp's residence, vehicle, storage unit and business, along with Watkins' residence, in May. Officers seized thousands of synthetics at the home, as well as manufacturing equipment.

According to documents filed Tuesday, Watkins will plead in his case on Thursday.