Delaware County Man Sentenced For Methamphetamine and Firearms Charges

A man who imported pseudoephedrine from Canada to manufacture methamphetamine was sentenced on August 3, 2015, to more than 12 years in federal prison.

Roger Hettinger, age 42, from Manchester, Iowa, received the prison term after a May 19, 2015, guilty plea to importation of pseudoephedrine, possession of illegal silencers and possession of pseudoephedrine with the intent to manufacture methamphetamine.

At the guilty plea, Hettinger admitted he, along with others, obtained pseudoephedrine from local sources and from Canada to use in manufacturing methamphetamine at his residence and elsewhere.  Searches of Hettinger’s Manchester home in January 2015 by the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office revealed a methamphetamine manufacturing operation, 19 firearms and four homemade silencers.

Hettinger was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade.  Hettinger was sentenced to 150 months’ imprisonment.  A special assessment of $300 was imposed, and he must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.  Hettinger 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 Patrick J. Reinert and investigated by the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Task Force consisting of the DEA; the Linn County Sheriff's Office; the Cedar Rapids Police Department; the Marion Police Department; the Iowa City 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 CR 15-2004.

Follow us on Twitter @USAO_NDIA.