Two California men are behind bars in Marshall County after a high speed pursuit in a stolen vehicle and the discover of two pounds of meth.

Late Wednesday afternoon, a Marshall County Deputy located the stolen vehicle from California on Highway 330. A pursuit reached speeds of 100 miles per hour onto a county road and into Story County, where the driver lost control and the car ended up in a ditch. That wasn’t the end of it, according to Marshall County Sheriff Steve Hoffman.

“Approximately one pound of methamphetamine was found in the ditch,” he said, “which led to a search warrant being served on the car where an additional pound of methamphetamine was located.”

Uriel Ruelas, the driver, and passenger Rueben Magallenes face multiple drug charges as well as theft and other traffic citations. Ruelas is wanted on felony warrants in the state of Nevada. So how did the men end up on Highway 330 in Marshall County?

“It’s pretty early in the investigation,” the sheriff said, “and hopefully we will have additional details revealed through the investigation and subsequent search warrants on electronic devices and such like that.”

Authorities in Story County, the Iowa State Patrol and the Mid-Iowa Drug Task Force are also assisting in the investigation.

(Reporting by Ken Huge, KFJB, Marshalltown)