Federal Criminal Defense Lawyer in Iowa

The Northern and Southern Districts of Iowa

The District of Iowa was established in 1846 when Iowa became a state. By 1882, when the state’s population had approached two million, Congress authorized the creation of two judicial districts in Iowa, Northern and Southern. Together, both districts are composed of nine district judges and eight magistrate judges. In Iowa, Azhari, LLC tries cases primarily in Des Moines and Davenport, two of the state’s three largest cities.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Iowa has a main office in Des Moines. The criminal division of the Southern District is made up of 24 Assistant U.S. Attorneys spread throughout the district. Criminal Division attorneys investigate and prosecute complex fraud, public corruption, and financial crimes cases in collaboration with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, the Iowa Health Care Fraud Task Force, and others.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Iowa is headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa’s second largest city. There, over twenty Assistant U.S. Attorneys lead the prosecution of health care fraud, bankruptcy fraud, public corruption, financial institution fraud, and other federal crimes. Cybercrime offenses, however, constitute one of the Criminal Division’s highest priorities. Such offenses include identity theft, the sexual exploitation of children through the internet, and child pornography. As with the Southern District, the Northern District works closely with local, state, and federal agencies to ensure aggressive investigation and prosecution of federal offenses.

Recent Federal Cases in Iowa

In Davenport, in October 2021 a man from Clinton, Iowa was sentenced to 210 months in prison for receipt and distribution of child pornography. He was also ordered to serve seven years of supervised release to follow his prison term and pay over $11,000 in restitution and fines. The defendant was arrested after the FBI executed a search warrant at his residence and found over 90 images and 131 videos of child pornography on multiple devices. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reports that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Iowa prosecuted this case as part of the DOJ’s “Project Safe Childhood” initiative—a nation-wide effort started in 2006 that combines collaborative law enforcement investigation, subsequent prosecutions, as well as public awareness and community action aimed at reducing the occurrence of the sexual exploitation of children.

In Cedar Rapids, in September 2021 a 63-year-old man was sentenced to five months in federal prison after pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud. The defendant received nearly $17,000 in fraudulently obtained CARES Act unemployment funds from the states of Maine and New York. He was further ordered to serve a five-month term of supervised release after his prison term and pay $16,978 in restitution to the New York State Department of Labor and another $9,250 to the Maine Department of Labor. This is an example of the Northern District of Iowa’s strong commitment to prosecuting fraud and other criminal activity related to COVID-19 programs.

Azhari, LLC defends clients facing a wide range of charges in these districts, including health care fraud, bankruptcy fraud, securities and corporate fraud, embezzlement, identity theft and computer crimes. Together, fraud, embezzlement, and child pornography crimes alone represent nearly as much as 10% of all federal crimes prosecuted in the State of Iowa.

Regardless of the district, alleged offenders face steep penalties if convicted, including heavy prison sentences, large fines, and even forfeiture of assets in some cases. Penalties for federal crimes are often harsher than those imposed with state criminal charges. For this reason, the most effective representation and the strongest defense begins with an extensive understanding of the facts unique to each case and the unique characteristics of the district in which a client is charged.