Cedar Rapids, Iowa — In a case underscoring the severe human cost of the ongoing opioid crisis, a 34-year-old man originally from Dubuque has been ordered to serve 37 years in federal prison for his role in distributing drugs that caused the fatal overdoses of a married couple in Marion, Iowa.
Cody Kinzie Dittmar was sentenced on March 4, 2026, in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids following his conviction by a federal jury in June 2025. The jury, after a three-day trial, found him guilty on two counts: distribution of a controlled substance resulting in death, and conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance resulting in death. These charges stem from events in July 2023, when Dittmar sold a lethal mixture containing heroin, fentanyl, and xylazine (a powerful veterinary sedative increasingly used to adulterate street drugs) to the victims. Both individuals died shortly after consuming the substances.
Federal law treats drug distribution that leads to death with particular gravity under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(C), imposing a mandatory minimum of 20 years per count and allowing for a maximum of life imprisonment. Prosecutors highlighted that Dittmar’s actions directly caused the loss of two lives, and the inclusion of xylazine amplified the drugs’ danger by making them more unpredictable and resistant to standard overdose reversal agents like naloxone.…