DAVENPORT, Iowa — A pair of Davenport men have been sentenced to decades in prison with drug and gun convictions after their operation was discovered by police in 2019.
A U.S. Department of Justice news release announced that 70-year-old Donnie Spencer and 35-year-old Rafiel Owens, who are uncle and nephew respectively, were convicted and sentenced on various drug on gun charges.
Spencer was sentenced to 25 years for conspiracy to distribute heroin and crack cocaine, possession with intent to distribute heroin and crack cocaine, and felon in possession of ammunition. Owens was sentenced to just over 17 years for conspiracy to distribute heroin and crack cocaine and felon in possession of a firearm. Both have four years of supervision and a fine upon their release from prison.
The charges results from federal authorities identifying their roles in the distribution of heroin and crack cocaine after their operation was discovered when a woman died of an opioid overdose in a room that Owens was selling heroin from.
Investigation into that incident revealed taht Spencer had been supplying Owen with drugs, and over the course of the second half of 2019, authorities executed several search warrants at the pair's residences, finding such drugs as heroin, fentanyl, crack cocaine, cocaine and meth.
Spencer brought the drugs from Chicago to the Quad Cities on a weekly basis, and then he sold them himself or through supplied Owens' sales. Over the course of about four years, Spencer was able to distribute about two kilograms of heroin and five kilograms of crack cocaine to the QC.
The pair's dealings were tied to at least two overdose deaths in the Quad Cities: a 30-year-old Davenport woman in May 2018 and a 28-year-old woman in August 2019.
Spencer was found guilty of his charges in August 2021, and Owens pleaded guilty earlier in February.
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