An investigation into Methamphetamine trafficking which, according to local sources, involved the Eagle Grove police department, the Wright County Sheriff’s Office, the Iowa Department of Narcotics Enforcement, and the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Laboratory, has led to a sentence of more than five years in prison for a 64 year old Eagle Grove man, Celestin Loux.
From December 2019 to February 2020, law enforcement agents carried out a sting operation which included three controlled buys of meth, purchasing 51.54 grams of the illegal drug from Loux. Then, on November 10, 2020, during a traffic stop following a reported vehicle theft, law enforcement officers seized seven bags of meth found on Loux’s person, weighing a total of 14.39 grams. Which Loux possessed with the intention to sell, he admitted to in court as part of a guilty plea in a hearing at the federal court in Sioux City, October 18th of 2021.
In the case prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Patrick T. Greenwood Loux faced between 5 and 40 years’ imprisonment, a $5,000,000 fine, and at least four years of probation once released from federal custody. Despite allegedly violating court orders while on pretrial release on multiple occasions, including using meth, failing to comply with the directives of his probation officer, and possessing a firearm, Loux received only roughly two months more than the minimum 5 year sentence in federal prison. However, as there is no parole in federal prison, Loux will serve the full sentence. Upon his release, Loux will also be on probation for 4 years.
Following his sentencing, Loux was held in the custody of a United States Marshal’s unit, until he could be transported to federal prison.
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