Charles City man sentenced to federal prison for meth possession

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

A Charles City man who pleaded guilty to possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute it was sentenced this week to more than seven years in federal prison.

Jeremy Thomas Scott, age 46, received the prison term on Tuesday, Jan. 28, after having pleaded guilty in October in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa to one count of possession with intent to distribute 500 grams of methamphetamine.

Scott was a passenger in a van that was stopped on Interstate 35 in June 2024, after law enforcement “had received a tip that Scott was traveling to Iowa from California with multiple pounds of methamphetamine,” according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

“A K9 was deployed around the van and provided a positive alert. Scott admitted to having a methamphetamine pipe in the door of the van where he was seated and claimed everything in the van was his,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

According to court records, a search of the van by Iowa State Patrol troopers found approximately 4 pounds of methamphetamine in four sealed bags inside a Rice Krispies box. One of the bags was field tested and tested positively for methamphetamine.

Scott had initially been charged in Cerro Gordo County District Court with one count of conspiracy to manufacture or deliver methamphetamine over 5 grams and under 5 kilograms.

Those charges were dismissed in September after the Cerro Gordo County attorney said Scott was being indicted on federal charges.

Scott was sentenced Tuesday in Sioux City by U.S. District Court Judge Leonard Strand, to 90 months in prison, plus four years of supervised release after prison. There is no parole in the federal prison system.

Scott is being held in custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Fletcher and was investigated by the Cerro Gordo County Sheriff’s Office, Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement and the Iowa State Patrol.