Woman gets sentenced to federal prison for 2006 drug conviction
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A former Burlington resident who led police on a high-speed chase in 2006 after being caught dealing crack cocaine outside a video rental store was sentenced Monday in federal court.
Nateshia Arnell Davis, 24, was ordered to serve more than seven years in a federal prison for conspiracy to distribute the drug. Unlike state sentences, there is no parole in the federal system.
Upon completion of her sentence, Davis will be under supervised release for five years.
Mike Bladel, law enforcement coordinator for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, said Davis pleaded guilty to conspiring to deliver crack from April to May 2006.
On May 18, 2006, Davis led police on a chase with speeds reaching 90 mph on Burlington streets after she sold 3 grams of crack to an individual in the parking lot of Family Video on Division Street.
Police said after the drug transaction, two undercover officers of the Southeast Iowa Narcotics Task Force identified themselves and approached the vehicle Davis was driving.
Davis drove out of the parking lot, requiring officers to jump out of the way to avoid being hit, authorities said. While trying to elude police, Davis crashed her vehicle into a tree in someone’s yard.
After Davis’ arrest, narcotics agents searched her home and seized several items, including a plastic bag containing 20 individually packaged bags of crack weighing more than 50 grams.
Davis told authorities she distributed crack for a man named Timothy Johnson, who got most of the money from the sale.
In June 2006, Johnson, formerly of Burlington, pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy charges. He was known by the name “Mack.”
Shortly after Davis’ arrest, Des Moines County prosecutors charged her with two counts of assault while participating in a felony, two counts of assault on a peace officer, delivery of crack and possession of a controlled substance with the intent to deliver.
Those charges eventually were dismissed to pave the way for federal prosecution.
Bladel said during sentencing, Davis acknowledged “she recklessly created a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury to another person during the course of fleeing from law enforcement.”
Drug arrest stems
from island garden
Operatives from the Lee County Narcotics Task Force along with Keokuk Police officers have arrested a 58-year-old man they say grew marijuana on Mud Island between Keokuk and Hancock County, Ill.
Ronald D. Mason is charged on a Hancock County warrant with unlawful manufacture or delivery of cannabis and unauthorized production or possession of cannabis, sativa plant.
Authorities said a four-month-long investigation resulted in the arrest, which started when allegations surfaced that Mason was growing marijuana in an area owned by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
According to police, about 30 cultivated marijuana plants along with items used in harvesting and packaging it were seized.
Mason was taken to the Hancock County jail where he remains on a $100,000 bond.
Officials there later found Mason served time on drug charges in an Iowa prison and is on parole.
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