(Sioux City)– A northwest Iowa man has been convicted on a federal meth charge in a case with ties to Dickinson county. 35-year-old Carmelo Valdez Romero of Sioux City was convicted of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. The verdict was returned this past Friday following about three hours of jury deliberations in U.S. District Court in Sioux City.
Evidence presented at the trial showed that on March 17th, 2020, Valdez Romero and others possessed with intent to distribute 20 pounds of meth, and that he aided others in the removal of 20 one-pound packages the drug hidden in a gas tank of a rental vehicle that had traveled from California to rural Dickinson county. In a machine shed on the property, Valdez Romero removed the rear seats of the vehicle, removed the fuel pump and other equipment attached to the gas tank and helped another person retrieve the meth. Authorities executed a search warrant on the property resulting in them seizing 15 pounds of meth from a safe inside the machine shed, along with five more pounds of the drug as it was being driven away from the property, and one pound of methamphetamine that was found in the vehicle driven by Valdez Romero. Agents also seized $700 from Valdez Romero and $900 from two others in the vehicle. The money had been pre-serialized by agents earlier that day to purchase one pound of meth from Valdez Romero’s drug associate by confidential informants.
Valdez Romero faces up to life in prison. Sentencing is pending completion of a pre-sentence report.
