Osceola man, four others sentenced for methamphetamine trafficking in Federal court

United States District Court Senior Judge James E. Gritzner sentenced Ruben Rios-Sanchez, 33, of Osceola to 300 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing methamphetamine on March 10.

Travis Wesley Boyce, 47, of Humeston, was sentenced to 97 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine March 10.

Jaime Morales Cisneros, 27, of Corydon was sentenced to 126 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute five grams or more of actual methamphetamine March 30.

Seth Brian Miller, 28, of Corydon was sentenced to four years of probation for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine March 30.

Chad Andrew Moore, 39, of Allerton, was sentenced to 141 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing methamphetamine March 30.

According to a U.S. Department of Justice report, in 2017 and 2018, Rios-Sanchez was supplying Morales with methamphetamine for re-distribution. Morales in turn supplied Moore, Boyce and Miller with methamphetamine that they sold to customers in South Central Iowa.

“We responded to a call which led us to initiate a drug investigation and during the course of that investigation we determined that it was going to be a pretty large scale investigation,” said Marty Duffus, Osceola Police Chief.

At times, Rios-Sanchez also directly supplied Moore, Boyce and Miller with methamphetamine. The conspiracy involved drug transactions in several South Central Iowa Counties, including Wayne, Clarke and Lucas.

This case was investigated by the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office, Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, South Central Iowa Drug Task Force, Osceola Police Department, Chariton Police Department, Centerville Police Department, Clarke County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Des Moines Police Department, Mid-Iowa Drug Task Force and the Wayne County Attorney’s Office.

“We executed a search warrant and we were correct, it was a much larger operation than we thought. So the DNE and us and the rest of those agencies cooperatively worked together over the course of a couple years and successfully took a fairly large operation out of commission,” said Duffus.

This case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.