Waterloo man gets life sentence for 2017 murder in Floyd County

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

A Waterloo man convicted of murdering a Grundy Center man in Floyd County over a drug deal gone bad has been sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison.

Armando Adame III, age 29, was sentenced Wednesday in Floyd County District Court.

District Court Judge Gregg Rosenbladt sentenced Adame to the mandatory life term for conviction on a charge of first-degree murder, and to a term in prison up to five years for conviction on a charge of possession of a firearm by a felon.

The judge also ordered Adame to pay $150,000 to the heir of the man Adame murdered, and ordered him to pay $15,316 to the Iowa Crime Victim Compensation Program.

Rosenbladt ruled that Adame did not have a reasonable ability to pay the Crime Victim Compensation Program, court-appointed attorney fees or correctional fees.

In February this year a Floyd County jury had convicted Adame of murder for the Oct. 25, 2017, killing of Michael Bruce Johns, then age 28, of Grundy Center.

On Dec. 1, 2017, Johns’ body had been found by a farmer about 10 miles south of Charles City. An autopsy by the state medical examiner’s office confirmed the body was that of Johns, who had been reported missing by his mother in Grundy Center months earlier, and determined the cause of death was a head wound from a shotgun blast.

During the trial, the Floyd County Attorney’s Office presented evidence that Adame, Johns and a third man were involved in an attempt to buy methamphetamine from a fourth man in Marshalltown, who said he needed a ride to Charles City.

After being given a package of drugs in Charles City, Adame discovered the drug was actually ibuprofen and he accused Johns of having “played them.”

After driving around for much of the night, the car with the four men pulled over on a gravel road, Adame got a sawed-off shotgun from the trunk and killed Johns, the prosecution said.