The final member of a group charged with drug trafficking in the Cedar Rapids area was sentenced on Mar. 6 to twenty-seven years in federal prison.
Lavelle Davies, age 32, from Chicago, Illinois, received a sentence of 324 months’ imprisonment and will serve a five-year term of supervised release after his prison term. Davies pleaded guilty on July 25, 2025, to conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance.
Other members of the group were previously sentenced for their roles. Tanea Browning, age 29, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was sentenced on September 4, 2025, to over thirteen years in prison and three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to conspiracy and two counts of distribution. Andre Corone McNairy, age 34, from Chicago, Illinois, was sentenced on September 24, 2025, to seventeen and a half years in prison and five years of supervised release for conspiracy. Jeffery Lamonte Hayes and Javonte Carpenter also received sentences ranging from just over ten years to more than twelve years.
Evidence presented during court hearings showed that the group was collectively referred to as “Shorty.” Members shared phones to take calls and deliver cocaine and methamphetamine in Cedar Rapids. In October 2023, law enforcement stopped a car containing Davies and several codefendants in Cedar Rapids and found over five kilograms of methamphetamine inside. During a later search at an apartment occupied by Davies and Browning, Davies threw a loaded gun out the window. In April 2024, officers stopped McNairy driving with more than two kilograms of methamphetamine.
All five defendants were sentenced by United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams in Cedar Rapids and are currently held by the United States Marshal’s Service or Bureau of Prisons.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), which brings together law enforcement agencies at all levels with communities to reduce violent crime and gun violence. The Department launched an updated violent crime reduction strategy for PSN on May 26, 2021.
