Jocelyn Mendoza Gets 32 Months for Meth Conspiracy

A California woman has been sentenced to more than two years in federal prison for her role in a methamphetamine distribution ring that stretched from the West Coast to Sioux City, Iowa. Jocelyn Mendoza, 23, of Selma, California, admitted to conspiring to distribute at least 300 grams of meth during a criminal run that spanned nearly a year.

Mendoza pleaded guilty on November 15, 2018, to one count of conspiring to distribute methamphetamine. On May 15, 2019, she was sentenced to 32 months in federal prison by United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand. She will also serve a mandatory five-year term of supervised release following her incarceration. There is no parole in the federal system.

Court evidence revealed that Mendoza traveled by bus from Fresno, California, to Sioux City with approximately a quarter-pound of meth stashed inside a neck rest. She and a co-conspirator planned to distribute the drugs in the Iowa city. This was not their first run — the pair had previously transported a half-pound of meth from California to Iowa on two separate occasions for redistribution.

The drug operation was dismantled by the Tri-State Drug Task Force based in Sioux City, a multi-agency unit that includes the Drug Enforcement Administration, Sioux City Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, Woodbury County Sheriff’s Office, South Sioux City Police, Nebraska State Patrol, Iowa National Guard, Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, U.S. Marshals Service, South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, and the Woodbury County Attorney’s Office.

Assistant United States Attorney Shawn S. Wehde prosecuted the case. Mendoza has remained in custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since her arrest, awaiting transfer to a federal prison facility. The case was prosecuted as part of a broader crackdown on interstate drug trafficking networks exploiting regional transportation routes.

Case details are available through the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The official case file number is 18-4076. Follow updates from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa on Twitter @USAO_NDIA.