California Drug Dealer Who Shipped Methamphetamine by Mail to Iowa Sentenced to Over Two Decades in Federal Prison

A man who absconded from state court parole in Iowa for a drug trafficking offense was sentenced on December 20, 2023, to over 20 years in federal prison for participating in a methamphetamine conspiracy.

Todd Alan Skalberg, age 57, from Osmond, Nebraska, received the prison term after a June 30, 2023 guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance after having previously been convicted of a serious drug felony.           

Skalberg, who was living in California, sent multiple pounds of “ice” methamphetamine by mail to Waterloo, Iowa, to his co-defendant, Justin Lee Hanawalt, over the course of a few months.  Skalberg has three prior convictions for drug trafficking offenses.

Skalberg was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams.  Skalberg was sentenced to 262 months’ imprisonment.  He must also serve a ten-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.

Skalberg is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.  Justin Lee Hanawalt was previously sentenced to 240 months in federal prison.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Nicole L. Nagin, and it was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Waterloo Police Department, 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 22-CR- 2065.

Follow us on Twitter @USAO_NDIA.