US IA: C.R. COUPLE SENTENCED FOR INVOLVEMENT IN HEROIN DEATH

A Cedar Rapids couple were sentenced each to 15 years in federal
prison for their involvement in a heroin overdose that led to an
Ottumwa man's death in 2004.

The U.S. Attorney's Office of the Northern District of Iowa announced
Friday that Nick, 31, and Michelle Howeash, 27, were both sentenced
after pleading guilty on Aug. 10 to distributing heroin in the Cedar
Rapids area.

An unsealed federal indictment shows the couple purchased $100 worth
of the drug from a number of sources in Cedar Rapids and on Dec. 31,
2004, drove to Ottumwa, where they met a friend.

The three injected some of the heroin and later shared with another
man who was intoxicated at the time. Within five minutes of injecting
the drug, the man began to overdose, and died shortly thereafter.

Nick and Michelle Howeash were also ordered by a federal judge to pay
more than $6,830 in restitution for funeral expenses.

The two were released on bond and are to surrender to the Bureau of
Prisons on a date to be set.

The U.S. Attorney's Office is not releasing the name of the man who
died from the heroin overdose, and in the federal indictment he is
referred to only by his initials, C.H.

"We don't release information of the victim, for privacy reasons,"
said C.J. Williams with the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The convictions represent the latest efforts by an Iowa ad hoc drug
task force in investigating and prosecuting a rash of heroin-related
deaths in Eastern Iowa in recent years.

So far, the task force -- comprised of officials from the Drug
Enforcement Agency, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, Cedar
Rapids Police Department, Iowa City Police Department, Johnson and
Wapello County sheriff's offices -- has made 26 arrests in connection
to the investigation. Twenty-four have either pled or been found
guilty. Another two are awaiting trial.

In the last two years, there have been eight heroin-related deaths in
the Cedar Rapids area.

The last suspected case of death from heroin overdose was in early 2006.

"The word on the street is don't mess with heroin," said Williams.
"It's been nine months since we've seen someone die of an overdose.
Is heroin still available and will it be in the future, yes, but
we've made significant strides in stemming this problem."

The task force was created in October 2005, and remains the largest
heroin investigation in Eastern Iowa.