cherokee man sentenced for meth conspiracy
Contact: Peter Deegan
A man who conspired to distribute methamphetamine in Cherokee, Iowa, was sentenced on September 2, 2010, to 10 years in federal prison.
Richard Allen Hammond, age 51, from Cherokee, received the prison term after a May 27, 2010, guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of a protected location and to possess pseudoephedrine with intent to manufacture methamphetamine following a felony drug conviction.
At the guilty plea, Hammond admitted that, from September 2008 to September 30, 2009, he and others manufactured methamphetamine and distributed methamphetamine, pseudoephedrine pills, and anhydrous ammonia at his residence in Cherokee that was within 1000 feet of Roosevelt Elementary School. In September of 2009, Hammond was videotaped by law enforcement officers stealing anhydrous ammonia from a tank in a field.
Hammond has a previous felony conviction for conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine in Plymouth County, Iowa, from January of 2007.
Hammond was sentenced in Sioux City by United States District Court Judge Mark W. Bennett. Hammond was sentenced to 120 months’ imprisonment. A special assessment of $100 was imposed. He must also serve a 10-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
Hammond 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 Kevin C. Fletcher and investigated by the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, Cherokee Police Department, Clay County Sheriff’s Office, and Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement.
Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is 10-CR-4004.
