Sioux City Man Sentenced to 17.5 Years in Federal Prison for Possession with Intent to Distribute Meth

Omar Barrientos, 35, from Sioux City, Iowa, was sentenced on December 19, 2025, to over 17 years’ imprisonment.  Barrientos pled guilty August 19, 2025, in federal court in Sioux City, to one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

Evidence in the case showed that on June 20, 2024, law enforcement responded to remove an individual sleeping in a vehicle in the Thompson Electric parking lot in Sioux City.  Law enforcement arrived and knocked on the driver’s window eventually waking up Barrientos.  Barrientos was the sole occupant of the vehicle and exhibited strange behavior and signs of impairment.  Law enforcement searched the vehicle and found a bag under the driver’s seat containing just under a pound of methamphetamine.  Barrientos admitted that he planned to distribute the methamphetamine to others.

Barrientos had previously been convicted of willful injury and criminal gang participation in 2009, and in 2016 he was again convicted of willful injury along with assault while displaying a dangerous weapon and going armed with intent. 

Sentencing was held before United States District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand.  Barrientos was sentenced to 210 months’ imprisonment and must serve a term of ten years of supervised release following imprisonment.  There is no parole in the federal system.  Barrientos remains in custody of the United States Marshal until he can be transported to a federal prison.  

The case was investigated by Tri-State Drug Task Force based in Sioux City, Iowa, that consists of law enforcement personnel from the Drug Enforcement Administration; Sioux City, Iowa, Police Department; Homeland Security Investigations; Woodbury County Sheriff’s Office; South Sioux City, Nebraska, Police Department; Nebraska State Patrol; Iowa National Guard; Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement; United States Marshals Service; South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation; and Woodbury County Attorney’s Office and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kraig R. Hamit.   

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.

The case file number is 24-4065.  Follow us on X @USAO_NDIA.