A 49-year-old Muscatine man was sentenced on Wednesday, Sept. 6, to 14 years in prison for conspiracy to manufacture, distribute, and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

According to public court documents, on May 22, 2022, law enforcement observed Benjamin Stuart Gomes, 49, receive a package from another man at that man’s residence in Buffalo and drive away from the residence. Shortly after Gomes left the Buffalo residence, law enforcement made a traffic stop in Muscatine County of Gomes who was driving his vehicle.

During the traffic stop, Gomes was found to be in possession of about three pounds of meth. Gomes admitted he knowingly possessed the methamphetamine with the intent to distribute some or all of it to others, the release says. Pursuant to a subsequent search warrant of Gomes’s vehicle seized during the traffic stop, law enforcement recovered about 16 pounds of meth from the vehicle.

After his term of imprisonment, Gomes will be required to serve five years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system. U. S. Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement.

The U. S. Drug Enforcement Administration investigated the case.