The final member of a 10-person group from central Iowa involved in a drug trafficking ring is sentenced. The judge sentenced Andy Gomez the third of Altoona to four years in prison for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Court information shows Gomez was part of the group that distributed a highly pure form of meth in the Des Moines area from 2009 to 2012.
The group received shipments of meth from Mexico and shipped large quantities of money there. Drug agents seized over four pounds of meth, more than $117,000 in drug money and 17 guns at the Des Moines home of the leader of the group, 33-year-old Juan Gonzalez. The other nine in the group received sentences ranging from time served up to 25 years for Gonzalez.
Here are the names of the others in the group and their sentences: 36-year-old Miguel Bazan Cardenas of Des Moines, sentenced to 90 months in prison; 60-year-old Bertoldo Zuniga of Des Moines was sentenced to 48 months in prison; 31-year-old Azael Bernal Balderas of Des Moines was sentenced to five years; 46-year-old Ubaldo Carrasco Alcantar of Des Moines was sentenced to 30 months; 34-year-old Josue Castaneira Cruz of Des Moines was sentenced to 27 months; 32-year-old Gabriel Carrasco of Des Moines was sentenced to time served; 61-year-old Beverly Ann Hickcox of Des Moines was sentenced to 18 months; 54-year-old Danny Lee Iseminger of Newton was sentenced to 104 months in prison. Each was also ordered to pay a special assessment to the crime victim’s fund.