Was Making Methamphetamine in Shed Next to Cousin’s Home
A man who was manufacturing methamphetamine on his relative’s property was sentenced today to more than seven years in federal prison.
Jason Tooley, age 35, most recently from Lowden, Iowa, and originally from Kentucky, received the prison term after a Sept. 28, 2017, guilty plea to one count of attempt to manufacture methamphetamine.
Information presented at the sentencing hearing showed that in October 2016, Tooley had absconded from state probation. Tooley’s cousin permitted him to live in a shed on her property in Lowden, Iowa. The shed was next to the cousin’s house where her two young children also lived. On Oct. 25, 2016, a deputy sheriff with the Cedar County Sheriff’s Office was investigating a stolen license plate. The deputy saw the license plate on Tooley’s car, which was parked by the shed. When Tooley saw the deputy, he locked the shed and fled into the nearby woods. Deputies returned later and arrested Tooley. On Oct. 26, 2017, deputies executed a search warrant for Tooley’s car and shed and recovered methamphetamine, chemical by-products from the “one-pot" methamphetamine manufacturing process, and various other materials for manufacturing methamphetamine. Tooley had been purchasing pseudoephedrine for manufacturing methamphetamine for several years, continuing up until the time of his arrest.
Tooley was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge Linda R. Reade. He was sentenced to 85 months’ imprisonment. Tooley must also serve a six-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
Tooley is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.
The case was prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Drew O. Inman and investigated by Cedar County Sheriff’s Office, the Muscatine County Drug Task Force, and the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement.
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file number is 17-CR-62.
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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
