A southwest Iowa man has been sentenced to 17 years in prison in a drug case that started with a tip about a box.
Nearly three years ago, a person who is described by authorities as “a concerned citizen” took a suspicious package to the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office. It had been sent from Mexico. It had meth that was disguised to look like candy inside. Authorities say their investigation of that package led them to 35-year-old Timothy Dean Curphey and others who were selling meth in southwest Iowa.
Curphey, who is from Clarinda, briefly escaped from the Page County Jail in the spring of 2016. He jumped the fence in an exercise yard and was captured about a block-and-a-half away.