CEDAR RAPIDS – A Charles City man who sold methamphetamine, possessed firearms, and manufactured homemade explosives was sentenced on December 21, 2022, to five years in federal prison.
Cody Robert Winters, age 34, from Charles City, Iowa, received the prison term after a June 28, 2022 guilty plea to one count of being an unlawful drug user in possession of firearms and one count of distribution of five grams or more of pure methamphetamine.
Evidence at the plea and sentencing hearings showed that Winters distributed pure methamphetamine on several occasions from the spring of 2020 through the fall of 2020. During this time, Winters taught another individual how to manufacture explosive devices. In November 2020, a search of Winters’s house resulted in the seizure of firearms and explosive materials. Winters was a drug user and unlawfully possessed the guns.
Winters was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams. Winters was sentenced to 60 months’ imprisonment, and he must also serve a five-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.
Winters 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 Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
