Source: Office of United States Attorneys
A man involved with the distribution of methamphetamine was sentenced on February 24, 2025, to ten years in federal prison.
James Vincent Thornton, age 53, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received the prison term after an October 11, 2024 guilty plea to one count of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance.
Evidence at the plea and sentencing hearings showed that Thornton was involved with the distribution of methamphetamine. In November of 2021, law enforcement officers searched a residence where Thornton had been staying. Thornton had been living in the basement of the residence, and officers located approximately 224.17 grams of ice methamphetamine in his room. In March and April 2022, law enforcement officers utilized a confidential informant to buy methamphetamine from Thornton twice. In May 2022, law enforcement officers searched another residence associated with Thornton and located approximately 71.31 grams of ice methamphetamine.
Thornton was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams. Thornton was sentenced to 120 months’ imprisonment. He must also serve a five-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
Thornton 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 Adam J. Vander Stoep and was investigated by the Cedar Rapids Police Department, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Task Force. The DEA Task Force consists of the DEA, the Linn County Sheriff’s Office, the Cedar Rapids Police Department, the Marion Police Department, and the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement. This effort was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file number is 24-CR-72.
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