A woman who conspired to distribute fentanyl was sentenced on July 10 to more than 11 years in federal prison. Braleigh Schossow, age 25, from Galva, received the prison term after a February 11 guilty plea to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl.
At the sentencing hearing, Schossow admitted that between December 2020 and February 2024, she distributed at least 100,000 pills containing fentanyl. Evidence further showed that Schossow would acquire counterfeit pills stamped with “M30” which contained fentanyl from her sources in Minnesota. Schossow then distributed tens of thousands of these pills across Iowa and Nebraska.
As part of that distribution, in 2022, after she acquired fentanyl pills from her source in Minnesota, some of those pills were knowingly distributed to another who died from an overdose. In 2023, during a search warrant execution at her residence in Fort Dodge, law enforcement found over 7,000 fentanyl pills, cocaine, $72,000 in cash, and a loaded handgun belonging to Schossow.
Schossow was sentenced in Sioux City by United States District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand to 141 months’ imprisonment. She must also serve a five-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system. Schossow is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until she can be transported to a federal prison.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Patrick T. Greenwood and investigated by the Tri-State Drug Task Force based in Sioux City, Iowa, that consists of law enforcement personnel from the Drug Enforcement Administration; Sioux City, Iowa, Police Department; Homeland Security Investigations; Woodbury County Sheriff’s Office; South Sioux City, Nebraska, Police Department; Nebraska State Patrol; Iowa National Guard; Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement; United States Marshals Service; South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation; and Woodbury County Attorney’s Office.
