Sioux City, Iowa — A Dickinson County woman who conspired to distribute meth pled guilty Tuesday (September 14th), in federal court in Sioux City. 29-year-old Meghan Renken, from Spirit Lake, was convicted of conspiring to distribute methamphetamine.
At the plea hearing, Renken admitted her involvement in a conspiracy that distributed more than 1500 grams of pure methamphetamine from July 2018 until March 2020 in the Dickinson County area. On March 17th of last year, law enforcement executed a search warrant at a co-conspirators residence and seized 20 pounds of methamphetamine from the residence. During the course of the execution of the search warrant, law enforcement stopped Renken and another co-conspirator leaving the residence in a vehicle. Upon a search of the vehicle, law enforcement seized 3 pounds of pure meth that Renken and her co-conspirator admitted they had plans to distribute to other persons, according to federal prosecutors.
Sentencing will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Renken was taken into custody by the United States Marshal after the guilty plea and will remain in custody pending sentencing. She faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of life imprisonment, a $10,000,000 fine, and 5 years up to life of supervised release following any imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal system.
