Ex-Iowa professor sentenced to federal prison for drug trafficking

This story corrects one published Jan. 9, 2020, about the sentencing of Randall Mark Gilbert, of Marion, Iowa, for a drug violation. The Associated Press erroneously reported that he had been a professor at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan, in the university's Seidman College of Business. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Cedar Rapids says Gilbert had been a college professor in Iowa, but not at Grand Valley State University.

Cedar Rapids, Iowa — A former professor living in eastern Iowa has been sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison for dealing methamphetamine.

Federal prosecutors said Thursday in a news release that Randall Mark Gilbert, 61, of Marion, was sentenced Wednesday to 85 months in prison after he pleaded guilty in July to possession with intent to distribute meth near a school. Police found more than 10 grams of meth in a search of Gilbert’s home, which was within 1,000 feet of Lisbon High School, prosecutors said.

Police said that after Gilbert’s arrested and release on bond, he barged into the home of a woman he believed had set him up, cut the phone line and threatened her with a knife. He then forced the woman to go with him to his house. 

The U.S. Attorney’s office in Cedar Rapids said Gilbert had been a professor at one time somewhere in Iowa but declined to say where he had taught.