Fort Dodge Man To Federal Prison For Meth Conspiracy

A man who conspired to manufacture methamphetamine was sentenced January 25, 2013, to eleven years in federal prison.

Chad Panzi, 31, from Fort Dodge, Iowa, received the prison term after a September 13, 2012, guilty plea to conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine. Panzi was previously convicted of possession of a precursor with intent to manufacture methamphetamine in the Iowa District Court for Humboldt County in 2008 and Panzi was also convicted of manufacturing methamphetamine in the Iowa District Court for Webster County in 2004.

At the guilty plea, Panzi admitted that from about 2009 through November 2011 he was involved in a conspiracy which manufactured at least 50 grams of actual (pure) methamphetamine. According to pseudoephedrine logs obtained in the investigation, from January 2011 through November 2011, Panzi acquired at least 45.12 grams of pseudoephedrine for the purposes of manufacturing methamphetamine.

Panzi was sentenced in Sioux City by United States District Court Judge Mark W. Bennett. Panzi was sentenced to 132 months’ imprisonment. A special assessment of $100 was imposed. He must also serve a ten-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.

Panzi is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Shawn S. Wehde and was investigated by the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations, and Fort Dodge Police Department.

Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is 12-3018.