Methamphetamine Dealer Sentenced in Federal Court

A methamphetamine dealer was sentenced on July 13, 2021, to more than seven years in federal prison. Jason Wayne Persons, age 42, from Quimby, Iowa received the prison term after a guilty plea to distribution of a controlled substance.

Persons distributed methamphetamine in and around Sioux City, Iowa in August of 2020. On August 17, 2020, Sioux City police officers executed a search warrant on Persons' residence. Officers recovered methamphetamine in his bedroom. In a police interview, he admitted to selling methamphetamine to support his addiction to methamphetamine. Persons was convicted in federal court in 2003 of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine.

Persons was sentenced in Sioux City by United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand. Persons was sentenced to 90 months' imprisonment. He must also serve a five-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.

Persons is being held in the United States Marshal's custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ron Timmons and investigated by Tri-State Drug Task Force based in Sioux City, Iowa, that consists of law enforcement personnel from the Drug Enforcement Administration; Sioux City, Iowa, Police Department; Homeland Security Investigations; Woodbury County Sheriff's Office; South Sioux City, Nebraska, Police Department; Nebraska State Patrol; Iowa National Guard; Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement; United States Marshals Service; South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation; and Woodbury County Attorney's Office.

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.

The case file number is 20-4077.