Mason City, IOWA

May 5, 2008 - Mark Donisi, 57, a Mason City teacher, was sentenced to five years in prison on various drug charges, followed by a four-year term of supervised release after the prison term.

He was convicted in October of manufacturing marijuana, possession of steroids, possession with the intent to distribute marijuana and possession of a firearm as a drug user. The jury determined that Donisi must forfeit his interest in his rural Rockwell acreage, $32,039 of seized cash, a $5,000 cashier's check and $1.9 million he made from selling marijuana.

A search of his house resulted in the seizure of marijuana, oxycodone, marijuana, three firearms over $32,000 in cash, a $5,000 cashier’s check, and a notebook written by the defendant reflecting his marijuana growing activities from 2004 to 2006.
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U.S. Attorney's Office Press Release (dated Oct 7, 2007) on conviction.
U.S. Attorney's Office Press Release (dated May 2, 2008) on sentencing.
- Only place where he was identified as a former teacher.

Further search, however, shows that a court ruled inadmissible any reference by the defendant’s ex-wife, to the defendant’s prior drug use or his forced resignation of his job as a teacher and counselor with the Mason City Public School system in 2001 based upon an allegation of having an extra-marital affair with a student. No. CR 06-3055-MWB [Inexplicably, the decision is online in HTML format.]